![Nuoerosaurus chaganensis mount](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Nuoerosaurus_chaganensis_mount.jpg)
This list of informally named dinosaurs is a listing of
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
s (excluding
Aves
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
; birds and their extinct relatives) that have never been given formally published
scientific names
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
. This list only includes names that were not properly published ("
unavailable names In zoological nomenclature, an unavailable name is a name that does not conform to the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and that therefore is not available for use as a valid name for a taxon. Such a name does not fulfil th ...
") and have not since been published under a valid name (see
list of dinosaur genera
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago, although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is the subject of ...
for valid names). The following types of names are present on this list:
* ''
Nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
'', Latin for "naked name": A name that has appeared in print but has not yet been formally published by the standards of the
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 26 commissioners from 20 countries.
Orga ...
. ''Nomina nuda'' (the plural form) are invalid, and are therefore not italicized as a proper generic name would be.
* ''
Nomen manuscriptum
This is a list of terms and symbols used in scientific names for organisms, and in describing the names. For proper parts of the names themselves, see List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names. Note that many of the abbreviat ...
'', Latin for "manuscript name": A name that appears in manuscript but was not formally published. A ''nomen manuscriptum'' is equivalent to a ''nomen nudum'' for everything except the method of publication, and description.
* ''
Nomen ex dissertationae
In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published wi ...
'', Latin for "dissertation name": A name that appears in a dissertation but was not formally published.
* Nicknames or descriptive names given to specimens or taxa by researchers or the press.
A
Alamotyrannus
"Alamotyrannus" ("Ojo Alamo tyrant") is the informal name given to an as yet undescribed genus of
tyrannosaur
Tyrannosauroidea (meaning 'tyrant lizard forms') is a superfamily (or clade) of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that includes the family Tyrannosauridae as well as more basal relatives. Tyrannosauroids lived on the Laurasian supercontinent be ...
id from the
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
period of
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
. The fossils of this animal originate from the
Ojo Alamo Formation
The Ojo Alamo Formation is a geologic formation in New Mexico spanning the Mesozoic/Cenozoic boundary. Non-avian dinosaur fossils have controversially been identified in beds of this formation dating from after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinctio ...
in
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
and they were discovered during the Early 2000s (discovered by anonymous). It may be either a distinct genus or just a synonym of ''
Tyrannosaurus
''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosa ...
''. The suggested binomial "Alamotyrannus brinkmani", was created when the paper describing the genus was written in 2013. "Alamotyrannus" lived during the
Campanian
The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian s ...
, around 70 million years ago, which was two million years before the first ''
Tyrannosaurus
''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosa ...
'' existed.
Alan the Dinosaur
![YORYM 2001 9337-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/YORYM_2001_9337-1.jpg)
"Alan the Dinosaur" is the name given to a sauropod caudal vertebra (YORYM:2001.9337) found in the
Saltwick Formation
The Saltwick Formation is a Middle Jurassic geologic Formation (geology), formation in Yorkshire and the western North Sea. It is primarily Aalenian in age. Fossil footprints, assigned to the tetrapod ichnogenus ''Characichnos'', as well as Stego ...
(
Middle Jurassic
The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations co ...
,
Aalenian
The Aalenian () is a subdivision of the Middle Jurassic Epoch/Series of the geologic timescale that extends from about 174.1 Ma to about 170.3 Ma (million years ago). It was preceded by the Toarcian and succeeded by the Bajocian.
Stratigraphic ...
) of Whitby, England. It is the oldest sauropod found in the United Kingdom, dating back 176-172 million years ago. It gained the nickname after Alan Gurr, who found it in 1995 and because it is not identifiable to species level. An analysis done in 2015 found that it was a member of Eusauropoda, could be excluded from Diplodocoidea, and was most similar to ''
Cetiosaurus
''Cetiosaurus'' () meaning 'whale lizard', from the Greek '/ meaning 'sea monster' (later, 'whale') and '/ meaning 'lizard', is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Period, living about 168 million years ago in what ...
''.
The fossil of "Alan" is housed in the
Yorkshire Museum
The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy.
History
The museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Soci ...
, where it forms part of the Yorkshire's Jurassic World exhibit, featuring a VR recreation.
Allosaurus robustus
![Allosaurus_robustus_holotype](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Allosaurus_robustus_holotype.jpg)
"Allosaurus robustus" is an informal name used for specimen "NMV P150070", a theropod
astragalus
''Astragalus'' is a large genus of over 3,000 species of herbs and small shrubs, belonging to the legume family Fabaceae and the subfamily Faboideae. It is the largest genus of plants in terms of described species. The genus is native to tempe ...
known from the
Wonthaggi Formation
The Wonthaggi Formation is an informal geological formation in Victoria, Australia whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. It is part of the Strzelecki Group within the Gippsland Basin. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have be ...
(
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pro ...
) of Victoria, Australia. When first studied, it was thought to have belonged to a species of ''
Allosaurus
''Allosaurus'' () is a genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic epoch (Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian). The name "''Allosaurus''" means "different lizard" alluding to ...
''.
Samuel Welles challenged this identification as he thought that the astragalus belonged to an ornithomimid, but the original authors defended their classification. Sometime in the early 2000s, Daniel Chure examined the bone and found that it did not represent a new species of ''Allosaurus'', but could still represent an allosauroid. At the same time, Yoichi Azuma and
Phil Currie
Philip John Currie (born March 13, 1949) is a Canadian palaeontologist and museum curator who helped found the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta and is now a professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. In the ...
noted that the astragalus resembled that of their new genus ''
Fukuiraptor
''Fukuiraptor'' ("thief of Fukui") was a medium-sized megaraptoran theropod dinosaur of the Early Cretaceous epoch (either Barremian or Aptian) that lived in what is now Japan. ''Fukuiraptor'' is known from the Kitadani Formation and possib ...
''.
It may well represent an theropod related to or the same as ''
Australovenator
''Australovenator'' (meaning "southern hunter") is a genus of megaraptoran theropod dinosaur from Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous)-age Winton Formation (dated to 95 million years ago) of Australia. It is known from partial cranial and postcranial rem ...
'', though some argue that it could represent an abelisauroid. A 2019 study strongly supported a
megaraptoran
Megaraptora is a clade of carnivorous Tetanurae, tetanuran theropod dinosaurs with controversial relations to other theropods. Its Derived (phylogenetics), derived members, the Megaraptoridae are noted for their elongated hand claws and proporti ...
affinity for the astragalus.
The name "Allosaurus robustus", first confined as a museum label, was first published by Chure in 2000.
Amargastegos
"Amargastegos" is an informal genus of
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
stegosaurid
Stegosauridae is a family of thyreophoran dinosaurs (armoured dinosaurs) within the suborder Stegosauria. The clade is defined as all species of dinosaurs more closely related to ''Stegosaurus'' than ''Huayangosaurus''.David B. Weishampel, Peter ...
ornithischian
Ornithischia () is an extinct order of mainly herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by a pelvic structure superficially similar to that of birds. The name ''Ornithischia'', or "bird-hipped", reflects this similarity and is derived from the Greek s ...
dinosaur known from the
La Amarga Formation
The La Amarga Formation is a geologic formation with outcrops in the Argentine provinces of Río Negro, Neuquén, and Mendoza. It is the oldest Cretaceous terrestrial formation in the Neuquén Basin.
The type locality is La Amarga Arroyo and C ...
of
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, named by Roman Ulansky in 2014 on the basis of MACN N-43 (some dorsal
osteoderms
Osteoderms are bony deposits forming scales, plates, or other structures based in the dermis. Osteoderms are found in many groups of extant and extinct reptiles and amphibians, including lizards, crocodilians, frogs, temnospondyls (extinct ...
, the cervical and caudal vertebrae, and one skull bone). In 2016,
Peter Malcolm Galton
Peter Malcolm Galton (born 14 March 1942 in London) is a British vertebrate paleontologist who has to date written or co-written about 190 papers in scientific journals or chapters in paleontology textbooks, especially on ornithischian and prosa ...
and
Kenneth Carpenter
Kenneth Carpenter (born September 21, 1949, in Tokyo, Japan) is a paleontologist. He is the former director of the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum and author or co-author of books on dinosaurs and Mesozoic life. His main research interests ar ...
declared it a ''nomen nudum'', establishing it as an indeterminate stegosaur.
Amphicoelias brontodiplodocus/Barackosaurus
"Barackosaurus" is the informal name created in 2010 which is used for a
sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
found in
Kimmeridgian
In the geologic timescale, the Kimmeridgian is an age in the Late Jurassic Epoch and a stage in the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 157.3 ± 1.0 Ma and 152.1 ± 0.9 Ma (million years ago). The Kimmeridgian follows the Oxfordian ...
-aged sediments pertaining to the
Morrison Formation
The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Late Jurassic, Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandsto ...
,
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
. It was found in the Dana Quarry and "Barackosaurus" was supposedly 20 meters long and weighed 20 tons.
In 2010, an article was made available, but not formally published, by Henry Galiano and Raimund Albersdorfer in which they dubbed the Dana Quarry specimens which had already been referred to as "Barackosaurus" as "Amphicoelias brontodiplodocus". The specific name referred to their hypothesis based on these specimens that nearly all Morrison diplodocid species are either growth stages or represent sexual dimorphism among members of the genus ''
Amphicoelias
''Amphicoelias'' (, meaning "biconcave", from the Greek ἀμφί, ''amphi'': "on both sides", and κοῖλος, ''koilos'': "hollow, concave") is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur that lived approximately 150 million years ago during t ...
'',
but this analysis was met with skepticism and the publication itself has been disclaimed by its lead author, explaining that it is "obviously a drafted manuscript complete with typos, etc., and not a final paper. In fact, no printing or distribution has been attempted".
As of 2015, they are now on display at the
Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum
The Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) (Chinese: 李光前自然历史博物馆) is a museum of natural history at the Kent Ridge Campus of the National University of Singapore. It is named after Lee Kong Chian, a prominent Chinese ...
in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
.
Andhrasaurus
"Andhrasaurus indicus" is an informal
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
armored
ornithischian
Ornithischia () is an extinct order of mainly herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by a pelvic structure superficially similar to that of birds. The name ''Ornithischia'', or "bird-hipped", reflects this similarity and is derived from the Greek s ...
dinosaur from the
Kota Formation
The Kota Formation is a geological formation in India. The precise age of Kota Formation are uncertain, but it dates from the Early to Middle Jurassic, and is split into a Lower Member and Upper Member.Prasad GVR, and Manhas BK. 2007A new docodon ...
of India. Ulansky (2014) coined the name for skull elements, about 30
osteoderms
Osteoderms are bony deposits forming scales, plates, or other structures based in the dermis. Osteoderms are found in many groups of extant and extinct reptiles and amphibians, including lizards, crocodilians, frogs, temnospondyls (extinct ...
, and the extremities of vertebrae and limbs, all preserved in the collections of the GSI and assigned to Ankylosauria by Nath et al. (2002). In 2016,
Peter Malcolm Galton
Peter Malcolm Galton (born 14 March 1942 in London) is a British vertebrate paleontologist who has to date written or co-written about 190 papers in scientific journals or chapters in paleontology textbooks, especially on ornithischian and prosa ...
and
Kenneth Carpenter
Kenneth Carpenter (born September 21, 1949, in Tokyo, Japan) is a paleontologist. He is the former director of the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum and author or co-author of books on dinosaurs and Mesozoic life. His main research interests ar ...
noted that "Andhrasaurus" did not meet ICZN requirements and therefore declared it a ''nomen nudum'', listing it as
Thyreophora
Thyreophora ("shield bearers", often known simply as "armored dinosaurs") is a group of armored ornithischian dinosaurs that lived from the Early Jurassic until the end of the Cretaceous.
Thyreophorans are characterized by the presence of body ...
indet., while noting that the jawbones described by Nath et al. (2002) belonging to crocodylomorphs.
[Galton, Peter M. & Carpenter, Kenneth, 2016, "The plated dinosaur ''Stegosaurus longispinus'' Gilmore, 1914 (Dinosauria: Ornithischia; Upper Jurassic, western U.S.), type species of ''Alcovasaurus'' n. gen.", ''Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen'' 279(2): 185–208] The dermal armor informally named "Andhrasaurus" was redescribed by Galton (2019).
Angeac ornithomimosaur
The "Angeac ornithomimosaur" is an informal name given to an unnamed
ornithomimosaur taxon known from the Early Cretaceous (previously thought to be
Hauterivian
The Hauterivian is, in the geologic timescale, an age in the Early Cretaceous Epoch or a stage in the Lower Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 132.9 ± 2 Ma and 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Hauterivian is preceded by the Va ...
-
Barremian
The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous Epoch (or Lower Cretaceous Series). It is preceded ...
in age, but now thought to be
Berriasian
In the geological timescale, the Berriasian is an age/stage of the Early/Lower Cretaceous. It is the oldest subdivision in the entire Cretaceous. It has been taken to span the time between 145.0 ± 4.0 Ma and 139.8 ± 3.0 Ma (million years ago) ...
aged
[Ronan Allain, Romain Vullo, Lee Rozada, Jérémy Anquetin, Renaud Bourgeais, et al.]
Vertebrate paleobiodiversity of the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) Angeac-Charente Lagerstätte (southwestern France): implications for continental faunal turnover at the J/K boundary
Geodiversitas, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle Paris, In press. ffhal-03264773f)
Angeac-Charente bonebed The Angeac-Charente bonebed is a fossil deposit located near Angeac-Charente in western France. It dates to the Berriasian stage of the Early Cretaceous, and is coeval with the Purbeck Group of Southern England. It has amongst the most diverse assem ...
(part of the stratigraphy of the
Aquitaine Basin
The Aquitaine Basin is the second largest Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary basin in France after the Paris Basin, occupying a large part of the country's southwestern quadrant. Its surface area covers 66,000 km2 onshore. It formed on Varisca ...
) near
Angeac-Charente
Angeac-Charente () is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Charente department
The following is a list of the 364 communes of the Charente department of France.
The communes co ...
in western France. The taxon is toothless and is known from numerous disarticulated remains representing at least 70 individuals covering almost all of the skeleton,
some remains were described by Allain ''et al.'' (2014).
Angloposeidon
![Angloposeidon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Angloposeidon.jpg)
"Angloposeidon" is the informal name given to a
sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
dinosaur from the Early
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
(
Barremian
The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous Epoch (or Lower Cretaceous Series). It is preceded ...
)
Wessex Formation
The Wessex Formation is a fossil-rich English geological formation that dates from the Berriasian to Barremian stages (about 145–125 million years ago) of the Early Cretaceous. It forms part of the Wealden Group and underlies the younger Vecti ...
of the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
in southern England.
It was a possible
brachiosaur
The Brachiosauridae ("arm lizards", from Greek ''brachion'' (βραχίων) = "arm" and ''sauros'' = "lizard") are a family or clade of herbivorous, quadrupedal sauropod dinosaurs. Brachiosaurids had long necks that enabled them to access the le ...
id but has not been formally named.
Darren Naish
Darren William Naish is a British vertebrate palaeontologist, author and science communicator.
As a researcher, he is best known for his work describing and reevaluating dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles, including ''Eotyrannus'', ''Xenopos ...
, a notable vertebrate palaeontologist, has worked with the specimen and has recommended that this name only be used informally and that it not be published.
However, he published it himself in his book ''Tetrapod Zoology Book One'' from 2010.
The remains consist of a single cervical
vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
(MIWG.7306), which indicate it was a very large animal, 20 metres or greater in length.
Archaeoraptor
![Archaeoraptor composite fossil at the Paleozoological museum of China](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Archaeoraptor_composite_fossil_at_the_Paleozoological_museum_of_China.jpg)
"Archaeoraptor" is the informal
generic
Generic or generics may refer to:
In business
* Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark
* Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...
name for an important
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
from China that was later discovered to have been fabricated from multiple unrelated fossils. The name was created in an article published in
''National Geographic'' magazine in 1999, where the magazine claimed that the fossil was a "
missing link" between birds and terrestrial
theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
dinosaurs. Even prior to this publication there had been severe doubts about the fossil's authenticity. Further scientific study showed it to be a
forgery
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...
constructed from rearranged pieces of real fossils from different species. Zhou ''et al.'' found that the head and upper body actually belong to a specimen of the primitive fossil bird ''
Yanornis
''Yanornis'' () is an extinct genus of fish-eating Early Cretaceous birds. Two species have been described, both from Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, China: ''Yanornis martini'', based on several fossils found in the 120-million-ye ...
'', and another 2002 study found that the tail belongs to a small winged
dromaeosaur
Dromaeosauridae () is a family of feathered theropod dinosaurs. They were generally small to medium-sized feathered carnivores that flourished in the Cretaceous Period. The name Dromaeosauridae means 'running lizards', from Greek ('), meaning ...
, ''
Microraptor
''Microraptor'' (Greek, μικρός, ''mīkros'': "small"; Latin, ''raptor'': "one who seizes") is a genus of small, four-winged dromaeosaurid dinosaurs. Numerous well-preserved fossil specimens have been recovered from Liaoning, China. They dat ...
'', named in 2000.
The legs and feet belong to an as yet unknown animal.
Archbishop
![The Archbishop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/The_Archbishop.jpeg)
"The Archbishop" is a giant
brachiosaurid
The Brachiosauridae ("arm lizards", from Greek ''brachion'' (βραχίων) = "arm" and ''sauros'' = "lizard") are a family or clade of herbivorous, quadrupedal sauropod dinosaurs. Brachiosaurids had long necks that enabled them to access the le ...
sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
dinosaur similar to ''
Brachiosaurus
''Brachiosaurus'' () is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic, about 154to 150million years ago. It was first described by American paleontologist Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in th ...
'' and ''
Giraffatitan
''Giraffatitan'' (name meaning "titanic giraffe") is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic Period (geology), Period (Kimmeridgian–Tithonian stages) in what is now Lindi Region, Tanzania. It was originally named as an ...
''. It was long considered a specimen of ''Brachiosaurus'' (now ''Giraffatitan'') ''brancai'' due to being found in the same formation in
Tendaguru
The Tendaguru Formation, or Tendaguru Beds are a highly fossiliferous formation and Lagerstätte located in the Lindi Region of southeastern Tanzania. The formation represents the oldest sedimentary unit of the Mandawa Basin, overlying Neoprotero ...
,
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
. However, the "Archbishop" shows significant differences including a unique vertebral morphology and a proportionally longer neck, that indicates it is a different, previously unknown genus and species. It was discovered by Frederick Migeod in 1930. "The Archbishop" is a nickname that functions as a placeholder – the specimen currently has no scientific name. The specimen is currently housed in the Natural History Museum in London, and will eventually be re-described by Dr.
Michael P. Taylor
Michael Paul Taylor (born 12 March 1968) is a British computer programmer with a Ph.D. in palaeontology. To date, he has published 18 paleontological papers and is co-credited with naming three genera of dinosaur (''Xenoposeidon'' in 2007 with Da ...
of
Bristol University
, mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'')
, established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter
, type ...
. In May 2018, Taylor started to work on describing the Archbishop.
Atlantohadros
"Atlantohadros", more commonly known as the "Merchantville hadrosaur", is an informally named hadosaurid dinosaur that lived in the
Merchantville Formation
The Merchantville Formation is a geological formation in the northeastern United States whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous, around the time of the Santonian and Campanian age. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recove ...
in the northeastern United States. Brown (2021) found "Atlantohadros" to be more derived than ''
Tethyshadros
''Tethyshadros'' ("Tethys Ocean, Tethyan hadrosauroid") is a genus of hadrosauroidea, hadrosauroid dinosaur from Trieste, Italy. The type and only species is ''T. insularis''.
Discovery and naming
Sometime in the 1980s, Alceo Tarlao and Giorgi ...
'' but less derived than
Saurolophinae
Saurolophinae is a subfamily of hadrosaurid dinosaurs. It has since the mid-20th century generally been called the Hadrosaurinae, a group of largely non-crested hadrosaurs related to the crested sub-family Lambeosaurinae. However, the name Hadro ...
and
Lambeosaurinae
Lambeosaurinae is a group of crested hadrosaurid dinosaurs.
Classification
Lambeosaurines have been traditionally split into the tribes or clades Parasaurolophini (''Parasaurolophus'', ''Charonosaurus'', others (?).) and Lambeosaurini (''Coryt ...
. The name was intended to be used in that publication, but was cut for unknown reasons; initial versions of Brown (2021) contained the word "Atlantohadros" superimposed over "Merchantville Taxon" in a cladogram; subsequent corrections have erased the genus name entirely.
Three specimens were discovered northwest of
Freehold
Freehold may refer to:
In real estate
*Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple
*Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England
*Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice p ...
near Manalapan–Marlboro township line in
Monmouth County during the 1970s. These are: YPM VPPU.021813, YPM VPPU.021813, and AMNH 13704YPM VPPU.021813, possibly belonging to the same individual as YPM VPPU.021813 due similar weathering, size and the same horizon. These specimens consist of both coracoids, both scapulae, a femur, a fragmentary proximal tibia, and a dentary from a cast of the specimen (the original likely lost in YPM's catalogue) in the adult specimen, as well as a rib, a femur and long bone portions in the juvenile. AMNH 13704, id a partial dentary of a probable perinate. Scattered bones associated with these include a quadrate, several partial maxilla portions, a partial jugal, skull roof fragments and several rib fragments.
B
Balochisaurus
"Balochisaurus" (meaning "Balochi lizard", for the
Baloch tribes
The Baloch or Baluch ( bal, بلۏچ, Balòc) are an Iranian people who live mainly in the Balochistan region, located at the southeasternmost edge of the Iranian plateau, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There a ...
of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
) is an informal taxon of
titanosaur
Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still th ...
ian
sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
from the
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. The proposed species is "B. malkani". The discovery was made (along with other dinosaur specimens) near Vitariki by a team of paleontologists from the Geological Survey of Pakistan.
Described in 2006 by M.S. Malkani, the genus is
based on seven tail
vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
e found in the
Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
-age Vitakri Member of the
Pab Formation
The Pab Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic Formation (geology), formation in Balochistan, in western Pakistan. It is dominated by Sandstone, with minor mudstone and shale components. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been reco ...
, with additional vertebrae and a partial skull assigned to it. ''Balochisaurus'' was assigned to the family "Balochisauridae" along with "
Marisaurus", although the family was used as a synonym of older
Saltasauridae
Saltasauridae (named after the Salta region of Argentina where they were first found) is a family of armored herbivorous sauropods from the Upper Cretaceous. They are known from fossils found in South America, Asia, North America, and Europe. Th ...
.
Barnes High Sauropod
The "Barnes High sauropod" is the informal name given to MIWG-BP001, an undescribed sauropod dinosaur specimen from the
Wessex Formation
The Wessex Formation is a fossil-rich English geological formation that dates from the Berriasian to Barremian stages (about 145–125 million years ago) of the Early Cretaceous. It forms part of the Wealden Group and underlies the younger Vecti ...
on the Isle of Wight. It was discovered in the cliffs around Barnes High in 1992 and is currently owned by the privately run unaccredited Dinosaur Farm Museum near
Brighstone
Brighstone is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, 6 miles southwest of Newport on the B3399 road. Brighstone was previously known as "Brixton". The name derives from the Saxon name " Ecgbert's Tun".
Brighstone is the largest vi ...
, the ownership situation was described as "complex" and the specimen is currently inaccessible to researchers. It is roughly 40% complete and consists of a "Partial postcranial skeleton, including presacral vertebrae, anterior caudal vertebrae, girdle and limb elements" including a largely complete forelimb. It has been suggested to be a
Brachiosaur
The Brachiosauridae ("arm lizards", from Greek ''brachion'' (βραχίων) = "arm" and ''sauros'' = "lizard") are a family or clade of herbivorous, quadrupedal sauropod dinosaurs. Brachiosaurids had long necks that enabled them to access the le ...
and is possibly synonymous with the earlier named ''
Eucamerotus
''Eucamerotus'' (meaning "well-chambered", in reference to the hollows of the vertebrae) was a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Barremian-age Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation ( Wealden) of the Isle of Wight, England.
History and taxonomy
Jo ...
'' due to similarities with the vertebrae.
Bayosaurus
"Bayosaurus" is the informal name given to an as yet undescribed
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of dinosaur. The name was coined by
paleontologist
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
s
Rodolfo Coria
Rodolfo Aníbal Coria (born in Neuquén June 1, 1959), is an Argentine paleontologist.
He is best known for having directed the field study and co-naming of ''Argentinosaurus'' (possibly the world's largest land animal ever) in 1993, and ''Gigano ...
,
Philip J. Currie
Philip John Currie (born March 13, 1949) is a Canadian palaeontologist and museum curator who helped found the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta and is now a professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. In the ...
, and Paulina Carabajal in
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
. It apparently was an
abelisaur
Abelisauroidea is typically regarded as a Cretaceous group, though the earliest abelisauridae remains are known from the Middle Jurassic of Argentina (classified as the species Eoabelisaurus mefi) and possibly Madagascar (fragmentary remains o ...
oid from the
Turonian
The Turonian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the second age in the Late Cretaceous Epoch, or a stage in the Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 93.9 ± 0.8 Ma and 89.8 ± 1 Ma (million years ago). The Turonian is preceded by t ...
Cerro Lisandro Formation
__NOTOC__
The Lisandro Formation, alternatively known as the Cerro Lisandro Formation, is a Late Cretaceous ( Late Cenomanian to Early Turonian) geologic formation with outcrops in the Neuquén, Río Negro and Mendoza Provinces of Argentina. It i ...
of
Neuquén
Neuquén (; arn, Nehuenken) is the capital city of the Argentine province of Neuquén and of the Confluencia Department, located in the east of the province. It occupies a strip of land west of the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén rivers w ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, around long. The specimen is MCF-PVPH-237, including dorsal and sacral
vertebrae
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic i ...
, a fragmentary
pelvis
The pelvis (plural pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of the trunk, between the abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also called bony pelvis, or pelvic skeleton).
The ...
, and other partial bones, which were discovered in 2000. The name was used in a phylogenetic analysis to indicate the position of MCF-PVPH-237.
Beelemodon
"Beelemodon" is the informal name given to an undescribed theropod genus from the
Late Jurassic
The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987.
In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...
, possibly belonging to a
coelurosaur
Coelurosauria (; from Greek, meaning "hollow tailed lizards") is the clade containing all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds than to carnosaurs.
Coelurosauria is a subgroup of theropod dinosaurs that includes compsognathids, tyrann ...
. The fossils include two teeth found in
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
, United States. The name appeared in print in
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
, when paleontologist
Robert T. Bakker
Robert Thomas Bakker (born March 24, 1945) is an American paleontologist who helped reshape modern theories about dinosaurs, particularly by adding support to the theory that some dinosaurs were endothermic (warm-blooded). Along with his mentor J ...
mentioned it in a symposium for the
Academy of Natural Sciences
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading natura ...
.
[Bakker, R. ''Raptor family values: Allosaur parents brought great carcasses into their lair to feed their young.'' In "Dinofest International", Proceedings of a Symposium, Academy of Natural Sciences, eds Wolberg, Sump and Rosenberg, 51 – 63 (1997).] The teeth are most similar to ''
Compsognathus
''Compsognathus'' (; Greek ''kompsos''/κομψός; "elegant", "refined" or "dainty", and ''gnathos''/γνάθος; "jaw") is a genus of small, bipedal, carnivorous theropod dinosaur. Members of its single species ''Compsognathus longipes'' c ...
'', but have no unique features and also share similarities with ''
Protarchaeopteryx
''Protarchaeopteryx'' (meaning "before ''Archaeopteryx''") is a genus of turkey-sized feathered theropod dinosaur from China.Ji, Q., and Ji, S. (1997). "Protarchaeopterygid bird (''Protarchaeopteryx'' gen. nov.) – fossil remains of archa ...
'' and dromaeosaurids.
[
]
Biconcavoposeidon
"Biconcavoposeidon" is the placeholder name for AMNH FARB 291, five consecutive posterior dorsal vertebrae of a brachiosaurid
The Brachiosauridae ("arm lizards", from Greek ''brachion'' (βραχίων) = "arm" and ''sauros'' = "lizard") are a family or clade of herbivorous, quadrupedal sauropod dinosaurs. Brachiosaurids had long necks that enabled them to access the le ...
sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
, from the Late Jurassic
The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987.
In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...
Morrison Formation
The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Late Jurassic, Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandsto ...
, Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
. Not much else is currently known about "Biconcaveoposeidon", except that it was discovered in the Bone Cabin quarry in 1898.
Bihariosaurus
"Bihariosaurus" (meaning "Bihor lizard") is an invalid genus of iguanodontian
Iguanodontia (the iguanodonts) is a clade of herbivorous dinosaurs that lived from the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous. Some members include ''Camptosaurus'', ''Dryosaurus'', ''Iguanodon'', ''Tenontosaurus'', and the hadrosaurids or "duck-bill ...
dinosaur from Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pro ...
Bauxite of Cornet
The Bauxite of Cornet is a geological formation in Romania whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distributi ...
, Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
. The type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
, "Bihariosaurus bauxiticus", was named but not described by Marinescu in 1989. It was similar to ''Camptosaurus
''Camptosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of plant-eating, beaked ornithischian dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic period of western North America and possibly also Europe. The name means 'flexible lizard' (Greek (') meaning 'bent' and (') meaning 'lizard') ...
'', and was an iguanodont
Iguanodontia (the iguanodonts) is a clade of herbivorous dinosaurs that lived from the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous. Some members include ''Camptosaurus'', ''Dryosaurus'', ''Iguanodon'', ''Tenontosaurus'', and the hadrosaurids or "duck-bil ...
. The original publication of the taxon did not include sufficient description, and the illustrations cannot distinguish it from any other ornithopod.
Biscoveosaurus
"Biscoveosaurus" is the informal name of an ornithopod
Ornithopoda () is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, called ornithopods (), that started out as small, bipedal running grazers and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful groups of herbivores in the Cretaceous world ...
dinosaur specimen from the Early Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
age Snow Hill Island Formation
The Snow Hill Island Formation is an Maastrichtian, Early Maastrichtian geologic Formation (geology), formation found on James Ross Island, James Ross Island group, Antarctica. Remains of a Paraves, paravian Theropoda, theropod ''Imperobator anta ...
of James Ross Island
James Ross Island is a large island off the southeast side and near the northeastern extremity of the Antarctic Peninsula, from which it is separated by Prince Gustav Channel. Rising to , it is irregularly shaped and extends in a north–south ...
, Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
. It comes from the Cape Lamb Member of the formation, the same member as ''Morrosaurus
''Morrosaurus'' is an extinct genus of herbivorous ornithopod dinosaur member of the Elasmaria, that lived in the late Cretaceous in the Antarctica. The only known species is the type ''Morrosaurus antarcticus''.
Discovery
In 2002 the Argenti ...
'', another basal ornithopod. As such, it's been suggested it may be a secondary specimen of that species, but as the holotype of ''Morrosaurus'' is fragmentary and doesn't overlap with the material of "Biscoveosaurus", this can't as yet be tested. The specimen consists of dentaries, teeth, a braincase, parts of the maxillae, forelimb elements, assorted vertebrae, and the pectoral girdle; this makes it unique compared to the other James Ross Island ornithopods, which do not have both cranial and postcranial remains. It has been estimated the animal would've been about in length.
C
Capitalsaurus
"Capitalsaurus" is the informal genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
name given to the species formerly known as ''Creosaurus potens'' and ''Dryptosaurus
''Dryptosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of tyrannosauroid that lived approximately 67 million years ago (mya) during the latter part of the Cretaceous period, New Jersey. ''Dryptosaurus'' was a large, bipedal, ground-dwelling carnivore, that grow up to ...
potens''. The only known specimen was discovered in a layer of the Arundel Formation
The Arundel Formation, also known as the Arundel Clay, is a clay-rich sedimentary rock formation, within the Potomac Group, found in Maryland of the United States of America. It is of Aptian age (Lower Cretaceous). This rock unit had been economi ...
in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
It was a theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
, and it lived during the Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
. It is a nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
, the name having never been formally published. "Capitalsaurus" was discovered in January 1898 at the intersection of First and F Streets S.E., in the District of Columbia
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
– an intersection now designated as Capitalsaurus Court. It was not uncovered by any paleontological
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (geology), epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes t ...
activity, but as a by-product of sewer work. The only known specimen of "Capitalsaurus" consists of part of a single vertebra. Some paleontologists feel that this is insufficient justification for a name that suggests an entire genus, and that "Capitalsaurus" is merely an indeterminate theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
. Others note that this is hardly the only dinosaur with a common name that does not helpfully reflect its taxonomy. The "Capitalsaurus" is the official dinosaur of the District of Columbia.
Changdusaurus
"Changdusaurus" (also known as "Changtusaurus") is the informal name given to a genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of dinosaur from the Late Jurassic
The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987.
In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...
Period. It lived in what is now China. "Changdusaurus" is classified as a stegosaur
Stegosauria is a group of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Stegosaurian fossils have been found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America, Europe, ...
id. The type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
was named "Changdusaurus laminoplacodus" by Zhao in 1986, but it has never been formally described, and remains a ''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
''. One source indicates the fossils have been lost.
Comanchesaurus
"Comanchesaurus" is a ''nomen ex dissertationae'' for fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
ized remains from the Late Triassic
The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch ...
of New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
that were initially interpreted as belonging to a theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
dinosaur. The remains, NMMNH P-4569, consist of a partial skeleton including vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
l centra
Centra is a convenience shop chain that operates throughout Ireland. The chain operates as a symbol group owned by Musgrave Group, the food wholesaler, meaning the stores are all owned by individual franchisees.
The chain has three different f ...
and hindlimb bones, and came from the Norian
The Norian is a division of the Triassic Period. It has the rank of an age (geochronology) or stage (chronostratigraphy). It lasted from ~227 to million years ago. It was preceded by the Carnian and succeeded by the Rhaetian.
Stratigraphic defi ...
-age Upper Triassic
The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch of the Triassic Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch and followed by the Early Jurassic Epoch. Th ...
Bull Canyon Formation
The Cooper Canyon Formation is a geological formation of Norian age in Texas and New Mexico.Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004).Dinosaur distribution (Late Triassic, North America)" In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (ed ...
of Guadalupe County. Adrian Hunt, in his unpublished dissertation, proposed the name "Comanchesaurus kuesi" for the specimen, but the name was never adopted, and was first referred to in the scientific literature in a 2007 redescription of Late Triassic North American material thought to belong to dinosaurs (Nesbitt, Irmis, and Parker, 2007). In the redescription, the authors found the material to belong to a "possible indeterminate saurischia
Saurischia ( , meaning "reptile-hipped" from the Greek ' () meaning 'lizard' and ' () meaning 'hip joint') is one of the two basic divisions of dinosaurs (the other being Ornithischia), classified by their hip structure. Saurischia and Ornithis ...
n".
Cryptotyrannus
"Cryptotyrannus" (meaning "secret/hidden tyrant"), more commonly known as the "Merchantville tyrannosauroid", is an informally named tyrannosauroid dinosaur that lived in the Merchantville Formation
The Merchantville Formation is a geological formation in the northeastern United States whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous, around the time of the Santonian and Campanian age. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recove ...
. It was informally named by Brown (2021), who found it to be the sister taxon of ''Dryptosaurus
''Dryptosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of tyrannosauroid that lived approximately 67 million years ago (mya) during the latter part of the Cretaceous period, New Jersey. ''Dryptosaurus'' was a large, bipedal, ground-dwelling carnivore, that grow up to ...
'', reinstating Dryptosauridae
Eutyrannosauria is a clade of tyrannosauroid theropods whose distribution has been found in what is now Asia and North America. The clade consists of an evolutionary grade of tyrannosaurs such as '' Appalachiosaurus'', ''Dryptosaurus'', and '' B ...
. The name appeared in the initial version of Brown's paper, superimposed over "Merchantville Taxon" in a cladogram; a subsequent correction has erased the name entirely.
"Cryptotyrannus" is known from two specimens discovered during the 1970s, the holotype YPM VPPU.021795 and the paratype YPM VPPU.022416. Similar coloration and weathering indicate that these are probably the same individual. These are a partial foot bone and one caudal vertebrae. However, a skeletal produced for the paper depicts a hand claw. The foot morphology is consistent with Tyrannosaurs
Tyrannosauroidea (meaning 'tyrant lizard forms') is a superfamily (or clade) of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that includes the family Tyrannosauridae as well as more basal relatives. Tyrannosauroids lived on the Laurasian supercontinent be ...
, being extremely similar to the ''Dryptosaurus aquilunguis
''Dryptosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of tyrannosauroid that lived approximately 67 million years ago (mya) during the latter part of the Cretaceous period, New Jersey. ''Dryptosaurus'' was a large, bipedal, ground-dwelling carnivore, that grow up to ...
''. Autapomorphies include a metatarsal IV that is far more gracile and IV in proximal view also has a triangular, rather than subrectangular in outline. The holotype was once tentatively assigned to '' "Coelosaurus" antiquus''.
Shark bites present on the holotype suggest that the specimen's fragmentary nature is due to predation or scavenging by marine predators.
D
Dachongosaurus
"Dachongosaurus" is the informal name given to an undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
dinosaur from the Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...
of China. It is known from fossils including at least a partial articulated skeleton from the Dark Red Beds of the Lower Lufeng Series
The Lufeng Formation (formerly Lower Lufeng Series) is a Lower Jurassic sedimentary rock formation found in Yunnan, China. It has two units: the lower Dull Purplish Beds/Shawan Member are of Hettangian age, and Dark Red Beds/Zhangjia'ao Member ar ...
(Sinemurian
In the geologic timescale, the Sinemurian is an age and stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic Epoch or Series. It spans the time between 199.3 ± 2 Ma and 190.8 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Sinemurian is preceded by the Hettangian and is ...
stage) in Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
.[Zhao, 1985. The reptilian fauna of the Jurassic in China. Pages 286–289, 347 in Wang, Cheng and Wang (eds.). The Jurassic System of China. Geological Publishing House, Beijing.] Possibly a cetiosaur
Cetiosauridae is a family (biology), family of Sauropoda, sauropod dinosaurs which was first proposed by Richard Lydekker in 1888. While traditionally a wastebasket taxon containing various unrelated species, some recent studies have found that i ...
, the "type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
" is "Dachongosaurus yunnanensis", coined by Zhao in 1985. An alternate spelling is "Dachungosaurus". As with other informal names coined by Zhao in 1985 and 1983, nothing has since been published, and the remains may have been redescribed under another name.
Damalasaurus
"Damalasaurus" (meaning "Damala lizard") is the informal name given to a genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of herbivorous
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...
dinosaur from the Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...
. It was a sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
, though its exact classification within the clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...
is unknown. Fossils of "Damalasaurus", including a rib, have been found in the Middle Daye Group
The Daye Group is a geological formation in China. It dates back to the Hettangian-PliensbachianWeishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Early Jurassic, Asia)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (e ...
of Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
. Species attributed to this genus include "Damalasaurus laticostalis" and "D. magnus", although it is possible that both names refer to the same species.
Duranteceratops
"Duranteceratops" is a purported new taxon of chasmosaurine
Chasmosaurinae is a subfamily of ceratopsid dinosaurs. They were one of the most successful groups of herbivores of their time. Chasmosaurines appeared in the early Campanian, and became extinct, along with all other non-avian dinosaurs, during t ...
ceratopsid
Ceratopsidae (sometimes spelled Ceratopidae) is a family of ceratopsian dinosaurs including ''Triceratops'', ''Centrosaurus'', and ''Styracosaurus''. All known species were quadrupedal herbivores from the Upper Cretaceous. All but one species are k ...
from the Hell Creek Formation
The Hell Creek Formation is an intensively studied division of mostly Upper Cretaceous and some lower Paleocene rocks in North America, named for exposures studied along Hell Creek, near Jordan, Montana. The formation stretches over portions of ...
.[ In 2012, a ceratopsid skull reportedly distinguishable from '']Triceratops
''Triceratops'' ( ; ) is a genus of herbivore, herbivorous Chasmosaurinae, chasmosaurine Ceratopsidae, ceratopsid dinosaur that first appeared during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period (geology), period, about 68 m ...
'' was unearthed in South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...
by a fossil poacher named John Carter. Though it has yet to be published, according to the ''Prehistoric Times'' issue no. 121 from Spring 2017, the specimen is to be named "Duranteceratops".
E
EK troodontid
The "EK troodontid" (specimen SPS 100/44) is an unnamed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of troodontid
Troodontidae is a clade of bird-like theropod dinosaurs. During most of the 20th century, troodontid fossils were few and incomplete and they have therefore been allied, at various times, with many dinosaurian lineages. More recent fossil discov ...
dinosaur discovered in Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
. In the scientific literature it is referred to as the "EK troodontid", after the Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pro ...
sediments in which it was found. SPS 100/44 was discovered by Sergei Mikhailovich Kurzanov
Sergei Mikhailovich Kurzanov (Сергей Михайлович Курзанов, born 1947) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) paleontologist at the Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is known mainly for his work in Mongo ...
during the 1979 Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition. It was found in deposits of the Barunbayaskaya Svita at the Khamareen Us locality, Dornogov (southeastern Gobi Desert), in the Mongolian People's Republic. SPS 100/44 was described by Rinchen Barsbold
, Rinchyengiin Barsbold, born December 21, 1935 in Ulaanbaatar) is a Mongolian paleontologist and geologist. He works with the Institute of Geology, at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He is an expert in vertebrate paleontology and Mesozoic stratigraphy.
Bar ...
and colleagues in 1987.[Barsbold, Rhinchen, Osmolska, Halszka, Kurzanov, Sergei Mikhailovich. (1987). "On a new troodontid (Dinosauria. Theropoda) from the Early Cretaceous of Mongolia". ''Acta Palaeontologica Polonica'' 32(1–2): 121–132]
Its fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
remains include an incomplete skeleton consisting of the braincase, posterior parts of the lower mandibles, a maxillary fragment with teeth, parts of five cervical vertebrae (cervicals ?2-?6), an articulated right manus with partial semilunate, left manus phalanx
The phalanx ( grc, φάλαγξ; plural phalanxes or phalanges, , ) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar pole weapons. The term is particularly use ...
I-1, distal end of the left femur, and fragmentary left and right pedes. Barsbold pointed out that the specimen was smaller and from older sediments than other known troodontids, but it had some features of the skull that could have made it a juvenile. Barsbold also indicated the high degree of fusion of the bones of the skull and the unusual foot morphology to indicate that it might be an adult of an unknown taxon. Barsbold took the conservative position and did not name this specimen because it was not complete enough to rule out the possibility that it was a juvenile of a known genus of troodontid. Barsbold also noted that the naturally articulated manus of SPS 100/44 showed no signs of an opposable third digit, as was suggested for ''Troodon
''Troodon'' ( ; ''Troödon'' in older sources) is a wastebasket taxon and a dubious genus of relatively small, bird-like dinosaurs known definitively from the Campanian age of the Late Cretaceous period (about 77 mya). It includes at least ...
'' by Russell and Seguin in 1982. Turner and colleagues, in 2007, found the EK troodontid to be a distinct basal genus of troodontid, in a polytomy
An internal node of a phylogenetic tree is described as a polytomy or multifurcation if (i) it is in a rooted tree and is linked to three or more child subtrees or (ii) it is in an unrooted tree and is attached to four or more branches. A tr ...
with ''Jinfengopteryx
''Jinfengopteryx'' (from , 'golden phoenix', the queen of birds in Chinese folklore, and grc, πτερυξ , meaning 'feather') is a genus of maniraptoran dinosaur. It was found in the Qiaotou Member of the Huajiying Formation of Hebei Province, ...
'' and a clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...
of more derived
Derive may refer to:
* Derive (computer algebra system), a commercial system made by Texas Instruments
* ''Dérive'' (magazine), an Austrian science magazine on urbanism
*Dérive, a psychogeographical concept
See also
*
*Derivation (disambiguatio ...
troodontids.
Eoplophysis
"Eoplophysis" is a genus of stegosaur
Stegosauria is a group of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Stegosaurian fossils have been found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America, Europe, ...
known from the Middle Jurassic
The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations co ...
Cornbrash Formation
The Cornbrash Formation is a Middle Jurassic geological formation in England. It ranges in age from Bathonian to Callovian, the uppermost part of the Middle Jurassic. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the forma ...
, Sharp's Hill Formation
The Sharp's Hill Formation is a Bathonian geologic formation in the United Kingdom, dating to around 167 million years ago. Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.Weish ...
, and Chipping Norton Formation
The Chipping Norton Limestone is a geological formation in the Cotswolds, England. It preserves fossils dating back to the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic).Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic, Europe)." In: Weisha ...
of England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It was originally named ''Omosaurus
''Omosaurus'' is a dubious genus of extinct crurotarsan reptile, possibly a phytosaur, from the Late Triassic (Carnian) of North Carolina. Only scant remains are known, which makes ''Omosaurus'' hard to classify. The type, and only species, ''O ...
vetustus'' by the renowned German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene
Friedrich von Huene, born Friedrich Richard von Hoinigen, (March 22, 1875 – April 4, 1969) was a German paleontologist who renamed more dinosaurs in the early 20th century than anyone else in Europe. He also made key contributions about v ...
. The holotype, OUM J.14000, is a right femur of a juvenile individual from the Middle Jurassic (upper Bathonian
In the geologic timescale the Bathonian is an age and stage of the Middle Jurassic. It lasted from approximately 168.3 Ma to around 166.1 Ma (million years ago). The Bathonian Age succeeds the Bajocian Age and precedes the Callovian Age.
Strat ...
) Cornbrash
The Cornbrash Formation is a Middle Jurassic geological formation in England. It ranges in age from Bathonian to Callovian, the uppermost part of the Middle Jurassic. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the forma ...
Formation of Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, although it was probably reworked from the slightly older Forest Marble Formation
The Forest Marble is a geological formation in England. Part of the Great Oolite Group, it dates to the late Bathonian stage of the Middle Jurassic.Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic, Europe)." In: Weisham ...
in view of its eroded nature. Because of the renaming of ''Omosaurus'', an occupied name, as ''Dacentrurus'', ''O. vetustus'' was renamed into a ''Dacentrurus vetustus'' in 1964. In the 1980s, researcher Peter Malcolm Galton
Peter Malcolm Galton (born 14 March 1942 in London) is a British vertebrate paleontologist who has to date written or co-written about 190 papers in scientific journals or chapters in paleontology textbooks, especially on ornithischian and prosa ...
reviewed all known stegosaur material from the Bathonian of England and concluded that ''Omosaurus vetustus'' was valid and should be tentatively referred to ''Lexovisaurus
''Lexovisaurus'' is a genus of stegosaur from mid-to-Late Jurassic Europe, 165.7-164.7 mya. Fossils of limb bones and armor fragments have been found in middle to late Jurassic-aged strata of England.
Discovery and taxonomy
In the early ...
''. However, the species was later considered a ''nomen dubium
In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application.
Zoology
In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...
'' in both reviews of Stegosauria. In their alpha-taxonomic review of stegosaurs, Susannah Maidment and her colleagues noted that OUM J.14000 shares characters present in both sauropods and stegosaurs, but that it lacks synapomorphies
In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to have ...
exclusive to Stegosauria
Stegosauria is a group of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Stegosaurian fossils have been found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America, Europe, ...
and assigned it as a Dinosauria indet. Nevertheless, the amateur paleontologist Roman Ulansky coined the new genus "Eoplophysis" ("Dawn Armed Form") for ''O. vetustus'', noting differences with the femora of other stegosaurs.
Eugongbusaurus
"Eugongbusaurus" is the informal name (''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
'') proposed for a neornithischian found in the Oxfordian-age Shishugou Formation
The Shishugou Formation () is a geological formation in Xinjiang, China.
Its strata date back to the Late Jurassic period. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Din ...
of Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
, China. The intended type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
, ''"Gongbusaurus" wucaiwanensis'', was described by Dong Zhiming
Dong Zhiming (Chinese: 董枝明, Pinyin: ''Dǒng Zhimíng''; born January 1937) is a Chinese vertebrate paleontologist formerly employed at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing. He began working at the ...
in 1989 for two partial skeletons as a second species of the poorly known tooth taxon
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...
''Gongbusaurus
''Gongbusaurus'' is a genus of ornithischian, perhaps ornithopod, dinosaur that lived between about 160 and 157 million years ago, in the Late Jurassic period. A small herbivore, it is very poorly known. Two species have been assigned to it, but ...
''. Fragmentary skeleton IVPP 8302, the type specimen
In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...
for the new species, included a partial lower jaw, three tail vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
e, and a partial forelimb. Second specimen IVPP 8303 consisted of two hip vertebrae, eight tail vertebrae, and two complete hind limbs. Dong estimated it as around long, and considered it to be a strong runner. He assigned the genus ''Gongbusaurus'' to the Hypsilophodontidae, a paraphyletic grade of small herbivorous bipedal
Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an organism moves by means of its two rear limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' 'double' ...
dinosaurs. Because dinosaur teeth are generally not distinctive enough to hold a name, it is unsurprising that other paleontologists have suggested removing "G." ''wucaiwanensis'' from ''Gongbusaurus'' and giving it its own genus. The possible replacement name "Eugongbusaurus" leaked out accidentally and remains informal.
F
Fendusaurus
"Fendusaurus" is a ''nomen ex dissertatione'' proposed by Fedak (2006) for FGM
Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...
998GF13-II, which includes a skull
The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...
. Other specimens referred to "Fendusaurus" are FGM998GF13-I, FGM998GF13-III, FGM998GF69, FGM998GF9, and FGM998GF18, all found by a crew from the Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. All the specimens include femora
The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with t ...
and coracoid
A coracoid (from Greek κόραξ, ''koraks'', raven) is a paired bone which is part of the shoulder assembly in all vertebrates except therian mammals (marsupials and placentals). In therian mammals (including humans), a coracoid process is prese ...
s, and although they each share slightly different features, the differences are credited to intra-specific variation. Known specimens of "Fendusaurus" were previously classified as cf. ''Ammosaurus
''Anchisaurus'' is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur. It lived during the Early Jurassic Period, and its fossils have been found in the red sandstone of the Portland Formation, Northeastern United States, which was deposited from the H ...
''. The femora and coracoids also help identify different individuals, and Timothy J. Fedak
Timothy is a masculine name. It comes from the Greek name ( Timόtheos) meaning "honouring God", "in God's honour", or "honoured by God". Timothy (and its variations) is a common name in several countries.
People Given name
* Timothy (given name) ...
, the described of the specimens, found that each block represented about one individual. "Fendusaurus" is known from the Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...
(Hettangian
The Hettangian is the earliest age and lowest stage of the Jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (My ...
) McCoy Brook Formation
The McCoy Brook Formation is a geological formation dating to roughly between 200 and 190 million years ago and covering the Hettangian to Sinemurian stages. The McCoy Brook Formation is found in outcrops around the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia.
...
of Wasson Bluff
Wasson Bluff (also known as Wasson's Bluff) is the name applied to a series of imposing cliff faces on the north shore of the Minas Basin about east of the town of Parrsboro, Nova Scotia.Thurston, Harry (1994) ''Dawning of the Dinosaurs: The Story ...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
. It is the first non-avian dinosaur from Nova Scotia. As five specimens of "Fendusaurus" are from the McCoy Brook Formation, the formation is the richest prosauropod site in North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
. The formation is also similar to other formations of North America and Asia, as it lacks any remains presently assigned to ''Anchisaurus''. Fedak places "Fendusaurus" as a genus of the family Massospondylidae
Massospondylidae is a family of early massopod dinosaurs that existed in Asia, Africa, North America, South America and AntarcticaHellert, Spencer M. "A New Basal Sauropodomorph from The Early Jurassic Hanson Formation of Antarctica." Geologica ...
.[Fedak TJ. Description and evolutionary significance of the sauropodomorph dinosaurs from the Early Jurassic (Hettangian) McCoy Brook Formation. Ph.D. Dissertation, Dalhousie University. 2006.]
The specimens of "Fendusaurus" include mostly crushed vertebrae
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic i ...
, along with appendicular elements. They are distinguishable from ''Anchisaurus'' by the morphology of both the ilium and sacral vertebrae
The sacrum (plural: ''sacra'' or ''sacrums''), in human anatomy, is a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of the sacral vertebrae (S1S5) between ages 18 and 30.
The sacrum situates at the upper, back part ...
. However, in some specimens, the morphology of the femora and coracoids are quite different, which led Fedak to speculate that more than one species may have been present. "Fendusaurus", according to Fedak, can be distinguished from all closely related sauropodomorphs
Sauropodomorpha ( ; from Greek, meaning "lizard-footed forms") is an extinct clade of long-necked, herbivorous, saurischian dinosaurs that includes the sauropods and their ancestral relatives. Sauropods generally grew to very large sizes, had lon ...
by the extreme elongation of the cervical vertebrae; a four vertebrae sacrum that includes a dorsosacral and caudosacral; the elongate postacetabular process of the ilium; and an expanded anterior distal process of the tibia.[
]
Ferganastegos
"Ferganastegos" is a dubious genus of stegosaur
Stegosauria is a group of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Stegosaurian fossils have been found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America, Europe, ...
from the Middle Jurassic
The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations co ...
(Callovian
In the geologic timescale, the Callovian is an age and stage in the Middle Jurassic, lasting between 166.1 ± 4.0 Ma (million years ago) and 163.5 ± 4.0 Ma. It is the last stage of the Middle Jurassic, following the Bathonian and preceding the ...
) Balabansai Formation
The Balabansai Formation (sometimes transcribed Balabansay, also known as Balabansai Svita) is a geological formation in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan whose strata date back to the Bathonian and Callovian stages of the Middle Jurassic. Di ...
of Fergana Valley
The Fergana Valley (; ; ) in Central Asia lies mainly in eastern Uzbekistan, but also extends into southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan.
Divided into three republics of the former Soviet Union, the valley is ethnically diverse and in the ...
, Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...
.[Ulansky, R. E., (2014). Evolution of the stegosaurs (Dinosauria; Ornithischia). Dinologia, 35 pp. ]n Russian
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
OWNLOAD PDFttp://dinoweb.narod.ru/Ulansky_2014_Stegosaurs_evolution.pdf. The holotype of "Ferganastegos callovicus", IGB 001, consists of four posterior dorsal vertebrae. Although Averianov et al. did not consider the vertebrae diagnostic to genus, the freelance Russian dinosaur enthusiast and amateur paleontologist Roman Ulansky decided that the differences between IGB 001 and other stegosaurs were sufficient to warrant a binomial for IGB 001, "Ferganastegos callovicus" (Callovian roof from Fergana Valley), despite the fact he did not examine the material himself.[ Other researchers still contend that the material is not diagnostic and that the genus is a ]nomen dubium
In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application.
Zoology
In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...
.
Ferropectis
"Ferropectis" is a nodosaurid
Nodosauridae is a family of ankylosaurian dinosaurs, from the Late Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous period in what is now North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.
Description
Nodosaurids, like their close relatives the ankylosaurids, wer ...
ankylosaur
Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs. ...
from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
(Cenomanian
The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...
) Eagle Ford Group
The Eagle Ford Group (also called the Eagle Ford Shale) is a Sedimentary rock, sedimentary rock formation deposited during the Cenomanian and Turonian ages of the Late Cretaceous over much of the modern-day state of Texas. The Eagle Ford is pr ...
in Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
that was named in a 2018 dissertation by Matt Clemens. The intended type species is "Ferropectis brysorum", and in the phylogenetic analysis it was placed as the sister taxon to ''Borealopelta
''Borealopelta'' (meaning "Northern shield") is a genus of nodosaurid ankylosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada. It contains a single species, ''B. markmitchelli'', named in 2017 by Caleb Brown and colleagues from a well-preserved ...
'' in a clade including ''Hungarosaurus
''Hungarosaurus tormai'' is a herbivorous nodosaurid ankylosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) Csehbánya Formation of the Bakony Mountains of western Hungary. It is the most completely known ankylosaur from the Cretaceous of Europe.
Di ...
'', ''Europelta
''Europelta'' (meaning “Europe’s shield”) is a monospecific genus of nodosaurid dinosaur from Spain that lived during the Early Cretaceous (early Albian stage, ~113.0 Ma) in what is now the lower Escucha Formation of the Teruel Province. T ...
'', and ''Pawpawsaurus
''Pawpawsaurus'', meaning "Pawpaw Lizard", is a nodosaurid ankylosaur from the Cretaceous (late Albian) of Tarrant County, Texas, discovered in May 1992. The only species yet assigned to this taxon, ''Pawpawsaurus campbelli,'' is based on a comp ...
''.
Futabasaurus
"Futabasaurus" is an informal name for a genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
of Japan, known only from a partial shin bone
The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...
of ~ wide that was discovered in the Coniacian
The Coniacian is an age or stage in the geologic timescale. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series and spans the time between 89.8 ± 1 Ma and 86.3 ± 0.7 Ma (million years ago). The Coniacian is preceded by t ...
-age Ashizawa Formation
The Ashizawa Formation is a Coniacian geologic formation in northeastern Honshu, Japan. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus.Weishampel, et ...
of the Futaba Group
The Futaba Group is a Late Cretaceous geologic group in Japan. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus.Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur dis ...
; it was likely around when fully grown. It was first mentioned as "Futaba-ryu" by Hasegawa ''et al.'' (1987), and the name was coined by David Lambert in 1990 as a conversion from the Japanese nickname "Futaba-ryu", for an undescribed theropod. Dong Zhiming
Dong Zhiming (Chinese: 董枝明, Pinyin: ''Dǒng Zhimíng''; born January 1937) is a Chinese vertebrate paleontologist formerly employed at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing. He began working at the ...
and coauthors briefly discussed the fossil shin bone it was based on that same year, publishing a photograph. They considered the bone to belong to an indeterminate tyrannosaurid
Tyrannosauridae (or tyrannosaurids, meaning "tyrant lizards") is a family of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that comprises two subfamilies containing up to thirteen genera, including the eponymous ''Tyrannosaurus''. The exact number of genera ...
. If the specimen is eventually described and named, it will require a different name, because the name ''Futabasaurus
''Futabasaurus'' is a genus of plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Fukushima, Japan. It was described and named in 2006, and was assigned to the family Elasmosauridae. The genus contains one species, ''F. suzukii''.
Description
The size of ...
'' has since been used for a genus of plesiosaur
The Plesiosauria (; Greek: πλησίος, ''plesios'', meaning "near to" and ''sauros'', meaning "lizard") or plesiosaurs are an order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia.
Plesiosaurs first appeared ...
.
G
Gadolosaurus
"Gadolosaurus" is an informal name given to PIN, no. 3458/5 an unnamed juvenile
Juvenile may refer to:
*Juvenile status, or minor (law), prior to adulthood
*Juvenile (organism)
*Juvenile (rapper) (born 1975), American rapper
* ''Juvenile'' (2000 film), Japanese film
* ''Juvenile'' (2017 film)
*Juvenile (greyhounds), a greyho ...
hadrosauroid
Hadrosauroidea is a clade or superfamily of ornithischian dinosaurs that includes the "duck-billed" dinosaurs, or hadrosaurids, and all dinosaurs more closely related to them than to ''Iguanodon''. Their remains have been recovered in Asia, Eu ...
dinosaur specimen from the Bayan Shireh Formation
The Bayan Shireh Formation (also known as Baynshiree/Baynshire, Baynshirenskaya Svita or Baysheen Shireh) is a geological formation in Mongolia, that dates to the Cretaceous period. It was first described and established by Vasiliev et al. 1959. ...
of Baishan Tsav, Mongolia. The name "Gadolosaurus" was first used in a 1979 book by Japanese paleontologist Tsunemasa Saito, in a caption for a photo of the specimen. This specimen represents an individual that was only about a meter long (39 inches). The specimen was part of a Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
exhibition of fossils in Japan. Apparently, the name comes from a Japanese phonetic translation of the Cyrillic
, bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця
, fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs
, fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic
, fam3 = Phoenician
, fam4 = G ...
word ''gadrosavr'', or hadrosaur
Hadrosaurids (), or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod family, which includ ...
, and was never meant by the Russians to establish a new generic name.
Despite the only name ever applied to it being merely a mistranslation of ''gadrosavr'', this specimen has appeared in many popular dinosaur books, with varying identifications. Donald F. Glut
Donald F. Glut (; born February 19, 1944) is an American writer, motion picture film director, and screenwriter. He is best known for writing The Empire Strikes Back (novel), the novelization of the second ''Star Wars'' film, ''The Empire Strikes ...
in 1982 reported it as either an iguanodont
Iguanodontia (the iguanodonts) is a clade of herbivorous dinosaurs that lived from the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous. Some members include ''Camptosaurus'', ''Dryosaurus'', ''Iguanodon'', ''Tenontosaurus'', and the hadrosaurids or "duck-bil ...
or hadrosaur, with no crest or boot on the (the lack of which are both characteristics of the crested lambeosaurine
Lambeosaurinae is a group of crested hadrosaurid dinosaurs.
Classification
Lambeosaurines have been traditionally split into the tribes or clades Parasaurolophini ('' Parasaurolophus'', ''Charonosaurus'', others (?).) and Lambeosaurini (''Cor ...
duckbills), and suggested it could be the juvenile of a previously named genus like ''Tanius
''Tanius'' (meaning "of Tan") is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur. It lived in the Late Cretaceous of China. The type species, named and described in 1929 by Carl Wiman, is ''Tanius sinensis''. The generic name honours the Chinese paleontologist ...
'' or ''Shantungosaurus
''Shantungosaurus'' (meaning "''Shandong Lizard''") is a genus of very large saurolophine hadrosaurid dinosaur found in the Late Cretaceous Wangshi Group of the Shandong Peninsula in China, containing a single species, ''Shantungosaurus giganteu ...
''. David Lambert in 1983 classified it as an iguanodont, but changed his mind by 1990, when it was listed as a synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
of ''Arstanosaurus
''Arstanosaurus'' (meaning "Arstan lizard" after the Arstan well) is a genus of hadrosauroid dinosaur from the Santonian-Campanian-age Upper Cretaceous Bostobe Formation, Kazakhstan. It has had a confusing history, being considered both a hadros ...
'' without comment. What may be the same animal is mentioned but not named by David B. Norman
David Bruce Norman (born 20 June 1952 in the United Kingdom) is a British paleontologist, currently the main curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge University. From 1991 to 2011, Norman has also been the Sedgwick Mus ...
and Hans-Dieter Sues
Hans-Dieter Sues (born January 13, 1956) is a German-born American paleontologist who is Senior Scientist and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
He receiv ...
in a 2000 book on Mesozoic reptiles from Mongolia and the former USSR; this material, from the Soviet-Mongolian expeditions of the 1970s, had been listed as ''Arstanosaurus'' in the Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
, and was found in the Cenomanian
The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...
-age Bayan Shireh Formation
The Bayan Shireh Formation (also known as Baynshiree/Baynshire, Baynshirenskaya Svita or Baysheen Shireh) is a geological formation in Mongolia, that dates to the Cretaceous period. It was first described and established by Vasiliev et al. 1959. ...
of Baishin Tsav.
Averianov, Lopatin, and Tsogtbaatar in 2022 provided a preliminary description of this specimen and its taxonomic position, finding that the specimen may represent a juvenile of a novel taxon that was closely related to but more derived than the contemporary hadrosauroid ''Gobihadros
''Gobihadros'' is a genus of basal hadrosauroid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now the Bayan Shireh Formation (Cenomanian-Santonian). It contains only the type species ''Gobihadros mongoliensis''. It has ...
''.
Gallimimus mongoliensis
"Gallimimus mongoliensis" is an informal name Rinchen Barsbold
, Rinchyengiin Barsbold, born December 21, 1935 in Ulaanbaatar) is a Mongolian paleontologist and geologist. He works with the Institute of Geology, at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He is an expert in vertebrate paleontology and Mesozoic stratigraphy.
Bar ...
used for a nearly complete skeleton (IGM 100/14) known from the Bayan Shireh Formation, but since it differs from ''Gallimimus
''Gallimimus'' ( ) is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous period, about seventy million years ago (mya). Several fossils in various stages of growth were discovered by Polish-Mongolian exped ...
'' in some details, Yoshitsugu Kobayashi and Barsbold proposed in 2006 that it probably belongs to a different genus. It was recently included in a phylogenetic analysis, which recovered it as closely related to ''Tototlmimus
''Tototlmimus'' is an extinct genus of ornithomimid dinosaur. Its remains were found from the late Cretaceous Packard Formation, in the Sonora state, México.
Discovery
The only known species, the type species ''Tototlmimus packardensis'', was ...
.''
Gspsaurus
"Gspsaurus" (a ''nomen manuscriptum'') is a titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Vitakri Member of the Pab Formation
The Pab Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic Formation (geology), formation in Balochistan, in western Pakistan. It is dominated by Sandstone, with minor mudstone and shale components. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been reco ...
of Sulaiman Basin of Pakistan. It has been suggested to be synonymous with the also invalid taxon "Maojandino
This list of informally named dinosaurs is a listing of dinosaurs (excluding Aves; birds and their extinct relatives) that have never been given formally published scientific names. This list only includes names that were not properly published ...
", also proposed by Malkani.[Malkani, M.S., 2015. Dinosaurs, Mesoeucrocodiles, Pterosaurs, New Fauna and Flora from Pakistan. ''Geological Survey of Pakistan'', Information Release 823: 1–32.]
Grusimimus
"Grusimimus" (or "Tsurumimus") is an informal name for an undescribed genus of ornithomimid
Ornithomimidae (meaning "bird-mimics") is a family of theropod dinosaurs which bore a superficial resemblance to modern ostriches. Ornithomimids were fast, omnivorous or herbivorous dinosaurs known mainly from the Late Cretaceous Period of Laura ...
from the Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian
The Hauterivian is, in the geologic timescale, an age in the Early Cretaceous Epoch or a stage in the Lower Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 132.9 ± 2 Ma and 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Hauterivian is preceded by the Va ...
–Barremian
The Barremian is an age in the geologic timescale (or a chronostratigraphic stage) between 129.4 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago) and 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma). It is a subdivision of the Early Cretaceous Epoch (or Lower Cretaceous Series). It is preceded ...
) aged Shinekhudag Formation
The Shinekhudag Formation (also known as Shinekhudug Formation, Shinekhudag or Shinekhudukskaya Svita) is a geological formation in Dundgov, Mongolia whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains have been recovered from it.Wei ...
of Mongolia. Known from a skeleton including all regions except the skull, "Grusimimus" was given an invalid name in 1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
by Rinchen Barsbold
, Rinchyengiin Barsbold, born December 21, 1935 in Ulaanbaatar) is a Mongolian paleontologist and geologist. He works with the Institute of Geology, at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He is an expert in vertebrate paleontology and Mesozoic stratigraphy.
Bar ...
, who also suggested the species name "tsuru". The specimen (GIN 960910KD) was found in 1996 and examined by Barsbold before he suggested the informal name, a ''nomen nudum''. An abstract and poster were presented on the taxon by Kobayashi & Barsbold in 2002, and the former published a thesis paper on the specimen (referred to as "Ornithomimosauria indet.") which found the taxon to be close to ''Harpymimus
''Harpymimus'' is a basal ornithomimosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Period of what is now Mongolia. Unlike later, more derived ornithomimosaurs, ''Harpymimus'' still possessed teeth, although they appear to have been restr ...
'' phylogenetically but possible more derived. A recent phylogenetic analysis recovered "Grusimimus" closely related to ''Beishanlong
''Beishanlong'' is a genus of giant ornithomimosaurian theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of China.
Discovery and naming
Three fossils of ''Beishanlong'' were in the early twenty-first century found in northwestern China at the ''White ...
'' and ''Garudimimus
''Garudimimus'' (meaning "Garuda mimic") is a genus of ornithomimosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous. The genus is known from a single specimen found in 1981 by a Soviet-Mongolian paleontological expedition in the Bayan Shireh Fo ...
.''
H
Hanwulosaurus
"Hanwulosaurus" is the informal
Formal, formality, informal or informality imply the complying with, or not complying with, some set of requirements (forms, in Ancient Greek). They may refer to:
Dress code and events
* Formal wear, attire for formal events
* Semi-formal attire ...
name given to an as-yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
. It was an ankylosaur
Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs. ...
around long, which is long for an ankylosaur. Its fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s were found in Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
, China. Much of a skeleton, including a complete skull
The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...
, vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
e, ribs, a scapula
The scapula (plural scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on eithe ...
, an ulna
The ulna (''pl''. ulnae or ulnas) is a long bone found in the forearm that stretches from the elbow to the smallest finger, and when in anatomical position, is found on the medial side of the forearm. That is, the ulna is on the same side of t ...
, femora
The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with t ...
, bones from the shin
Shin may refer to:
Biology
* The front part of the human leg below the knee
* Shinbone, the tibia, the larger of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates
Names
* Shin (given name) (Katakana: シン, Hiragana: しん), a Japanese ...
, and armor
Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...
, was discovered; this may be the most complete ankylosaurian skeleton
A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...
yet found in Asia, according to early reports. Zhao Xijin
Zhao Xijin (赵喜进; born c. 1935 died July 21, 2012) was a Chinese paleontologist notable for having named numerous dinosaurs. He was a professor at Beijing's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.
Biography
Zhao Xijin was ...
, who has studied it, suggests that it may belong to its own subgroup within the Ankylosauria. The name first surfaced in news reports in 2001.
Heilongjiangosaurus
"Heilongjiangosaurus" (meaning "Heilongjiang
Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...
lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...
") is the informal name given to an as-yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of duckbilled dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
. It possibly was a lambeosaurine
Lambeosaurinae is a group of crested hadrosaurid dinosaurs.
Classification
Lambeosaurines have been traditionally split into the tribes or clades Parasaurolophini ('' Parasaurolophus'', ''Charonosaurus'', others (?).) and Lambeosaurini (''Cor ...
, and may in fact be the same animal as ''Charonosaurus
''Charonosaurus'' ( ; meaning " Charon's lizard") is a genus of dinosaur whose fossils were discovered by Godefroit, Zan & Jin in 2000 on the south bank of the Amur River, dividing China from Russia. It is monotypic, consisting of the species ...
''. The fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s were found in Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
-age rocks in Heilongjiang, China. As a ''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
'', it is unclear what material it was intended to be based on, but might be connected to the ''nomen nudum'' ''"Mandschurosaurus
''Mandschurosaurus'' (meaning "lizard from Manchuria") is an extinct genus of hadrosaurs based on material from the Late Cretaceous of China and possibly also the Early Cretaceous of Laos. It was the first dinosaur genus named from China, and a ...
" jiainensis'', informally named in a 1983 publication.
The "type species" is "H. jiayinensis", and it was coined in 2001 in a fauna
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...
l list by Li and Jin.
Hironosaurus
"Hironosaurus" (meaning "Hirono lizard") is the informal name given to an as-yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
. Found in Hirono, Fukushima
270px, Hirono Thermal Power Station
is a town located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an official registered population of 4755 in 2267 households, , Japan, it was probably a type of hadrosaur
Hadrosaurids (), or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod family, which includ ...
, although no subfamily identification has been made. The fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s are quite fragmentary, and consist of teeth and a vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
, possibly from the tail. Since the fossils have never been fully described in a scientific paper, "Hironosaurus" is considered a ''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
''. It was first mentioned by Hisa in an obscure 1988 publication and was later (1990) brought to a wider audience by David Lambert.[ ]Dong Zhiming
Dong Zhiming (Chinese: 董枝明, Pinyin: ''Dǒng Zhimíng''; born January 1937) is a Chinese vertebrate paleontologist formerly employed at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in Beijing. He began working at the ...
, Y. Hasegawa, and Y. Azuma regarded the material as belonging to a hadrosaurid
Hadrosaurids (), or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod family, which inclu ...
, but lacking any characteristics to allow more precise identification (thus indeterminate).
Hisanohamasaurus
"Hisanohamasaurus" (meaning "Hisano-hama lizard") is the informal name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
. It is a ''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
'' known only from teeth that first appeared in a general-audience dinosaur book by David Lambert in 1990. Although initially identified a diplodocid
Diplodocids, or members of the family Diplodocidae ("double beams"), are a group of sauropod dinosaurs. The family includes some of the longest creatures ever to walk the Earth, including ''Diplodocus'' and ''Supersaurus'', some of which may have ...
, it later re-identified as a nemegtosaurid
Nemegtosauridae is a family of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs based on their diplodocid-like skulls. Only three species are known: ''Nemegtosaurus'', '' Quaesitosaurus'' and possibly ''Tapuiasaurus'', each from the Cretaceous.
History of classi ...
similar to ''Nemegtosaurus
''Nemegtosaurus'' (meaning 'Reptile from the Nemegt') was a sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now Mongolia. It was named after the Nemegt Basin in the Gobi Desert, where the remains — a single skull — were found. Th ...
''. As its name suggests, its fossils were found in Japan. The location is part of Iwaki, Fukushima
is a city located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , Iwaki had a population of 337,765 in 143,500 households, and population density of 270 persons per km2. The total area of the city is , making it the largest city in the prefecture and the 10th ...
.
J
Jiangjunmiaosaurus
"Jiangjunmiaosaurus" is an informal name created by an anonymous author in 1987 for a possible chimaera of ''Monolophosaurus
''Monolophosaurus'' ( ; meaning "single-crested lizard") is an extinct genus of tetanuran theropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic Shishugou Formation in what is now Xinjiang, China.Holtz, Thomas R. Jr. (2011) ''Dinosaurs: The Most Complete, Up ...
'' and ''Sinraptor
''Sinraptor'' is a genus of metriacanthosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Jurassic. The name ''Sinraptor'' comes from the Latin prefix "Sino", meaning Chinese, and "raptor" meaning robber. The specific name ''dongi'' honours Dong Zhiming. De ...
''.
Jindipelta
"Jindipelta" (Lei ''et al.'', 2019; in press) is the currently informal name given to an ankylosaur
Ankylosauria is a group of herbivorous dinosaurs of the order Ornithischia. It includes the great majority of dinosaurs with armor in the form of bony osteoderms, similar to turtles. Ankylosaurs were bulky quadrupeds, with short, powerful limbs. ...
from the Zhumapu Formation
The Zhumapu Formation is an early Late Cretaceous (estimated Cenomanian)Wang et al., 2015, p.3 geologic formation in Shanxi Province, China. The hadrosauroids ''Yunganglong'' and ''Zuoyunlong''Wang et al., 2013, p.4Wang et al., 2015, p.2 and the ...
in China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. It is known from a partial skeleton found in Cenomanian
The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...
rocks and the intended type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
is "J. zouyunensis". The name was first announced in the 2019 SVP abstract book, alongside the megalosauroid
Megalosauroidea (meaning 'great/big lizard forms') is a superfamily (or clade) of tetanuran theropod dinosaurs that lived from the Middle Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous period. The group is defined as ''Megalosaurus bucklandii'' and all taxa sha ...
''Yunyangosaurus
''Yunyangosaurus'' (meaning "Yunyang County lizard") is a genus of possible megalosauroid dinosaur from the Xintiangou Formation in Chongqing, China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It i ...
''.
Julieraptor
"Julieraptor" is the nickname of a dromaeosaurid
Dromaeosauridae () is a family of feathered theropod dinosaurs. They were generally small to medium-sized feathered carnivores that flourished in the Cretaceous Period. The name Dromaeosauridae means 'running lizards', from Greek ('), meaning ...
fossil found in the Judith River Formation
The Judith River Formation is a fossil-bearing geologic formation in Montana, and is part of the Judith River Group. It dates to the Late Cretaceous, between 79 and 75.3 million years ago, corresponding to the "Judithian" land vertebrate age. It ...
, Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
in 2002. Parts of the same skeleton were illegally excavated and nicknamed Sid Vicious in 2006, and the excavator subsequently served jail time for the theft. Bob Bakker
Robert Thomas Bakker (born March 24, 1945) is an American paleontologist who helped reshape modern theories about dinosaurs, particularly by adding support to the theory that some dinosaurs were endothermic (warm-blooded). Along with his mentor J ...
therefore also nicknamed the specimen "Kleptoraptor". The skeleton was arranged to be sold to Royal Ontario Museum
The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year ...
. It is known from a skeleton consisting of an almost complete skeleton missing most of its skull, most tail vertebra, part of the femur, some spinal and neck vertebra, one claw but it has a well preserved braincase.
K
Kagasaurus
"Kagasaurus" (meaning "Kaga lizard") is the informal name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pro ...
. It was a theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
which lived in what is now Japan. The type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
was named by Hisa in 1988, but is known from only two teeth. Since "Kagasaurus" has never been formally described, it is considered a ''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
''. Unlike "Kitadanisaurus
''Fukuiraptor'' ("thief of Fukui") was a medium-sized megaraptoran theropod dinosaur of the Early Cretaceous epoch (either Barremian or Aptian) that lived in what is now Japan. ''Fukuiraptor'' is known from the Kitadani Formation and possibly a ...
" and ''Katsuyamasaurus
This list of informally named dinosaurs is a listing of dinosaurs (excluding Aves; birds and their extinct relatives) that have never been given formally published scientific names. This list only includes names that were not properly published ...
'', it is unlikely that "Kagasaurus" is synonymous with ''Fukuiraptor
''Fukuiraptor'' ("thief of Fukui") was a medium-sized megaraptoran theropod dinosaur of the Early Cretaceous epoch (either Barremian or Aptian) that lived in what is now Japan. ''Fukuiraptor'' is known from the Kitadani Formation and possib ...
'', and may instead be a dromaeosaurid.
Katsuyamasaurus
"Katsuyamasaurus" is an informal name for a genus of intermediate theropod known from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of the Kitadani Formation
The Kitadani Formation ( ja, 北谷層 ''Kitadani-sō'') is a unit of Lower Cretaceous sedimentary rock which crops out near the city of Katsuyama in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, and it is the primary source of Cretaceous-aged non-marine vertebrate f ...
, Japan. Known from a single middle caudal vertebra and an ulna, the taxon was informally called "Katsuyama-ryu", until Lambert (1990) made it into an invalid genus name, "Katsuyamasaurus". The caudal vertebra was suggested to belong to an ornithopod
Ornithopoda () is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, called ornithopods (), that started out as small, bipedal running grazers and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful groups of herbivores in the Cretaceous world ...
by Chure (2000), and Olshevsky (2000) suggested the material was a synonym of ''Fukuiraptor
''Fukuiraptor'' ("thief of Fukui") was a medium-sized megaraptoran theropod dinosaur of the Early Cretaceous epoch (either Barremian or Aptian) that lived in what is now Japan. ''Fukuiraptor'' is known from the Kitadani Formation and possib ...
''. However, the ulna differs from ''Fukuiraptor'', and the large olecranon
The olecranon (, ), is a large, thick, curved bony eminence of the ulna, a long bone in the forearm that projects behind the elbow. It forms the most pointed portion of the elbow and is opposite to the cubital fossa or elbow pit. The olecranon ...
suggests the taxon falls outside Maniraptoriformes
Maniraptoriformes is a clade of dinosaurs with pennaceous feathers and wings that contains ornithomimosaurs and maniraptorans. This group was named by Thomas Holtz, who defined it as "the most recent common ancestor of '' Ornithomimus'' and bird ...
.
Khetranisaurus
"Khetranisaurus" (meaning "Khetran lizard", for the Khetran
The Khetran are a Baloch tribe found primarily in the northeast of the Balochistan province of Pakistan. Their area is a large hilly tract in the Sulaiman Mountains comprising the whole of Barkhan District as well as small parts of neighbouring ...
people of Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
) is an informal taxon of titanosaur
Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still th ...
ian sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
of Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
, western Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
(also spelled "Khateranisaurus" in some early reports). The proposed species is "K. barkhani", described by M. Sadiq Malkani in 2006, and it is based on a tail vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
, found in the Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
-age Vitakri Member of the Pab Formation
The Pab Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic Formation (geology), formation in Balochistan, in western Pakistan. It is dominated by Sandstone, with minor mudstone and shale components. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been reco ...
. It was assigned to "Pakisauridae" (used as a synonym of Titanosauridae
Lithostrotia is a clade of derived titanosaur sauropods that lived during the Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous. The group was defined by Upchurch ''et al.'' in 2004 as the most recent common ancestor of ''Malawisaurus'' and ''Saltasaurus'' an ...
), along with " Pakisaurus" and " Sulaimanisaurus".
Koreanosaurus
"Koreanosaurus" (meaning "Korean lizard") is the informal name given to an as-yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pro ...
(Aptian
The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), a ...
-Albian
The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 M ...
). It was a possible dromaeosaur
Dromaeosauridae () is a family of feathered theropod dinosaurs. They were generally small to medium-sized feathered carnivores that flourished in the Cretaceous Period. The name Dromaeosauridae means 'running lizards', from Greek ('), meaning ...
(or similar theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
) which was discovered in the Gugyedong Formation
The Gugyedong Formation (), also known as the Guyedong Beds, is an Aptian to Albian geologic formation in South Korea.[South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...]
, although at times it has been referred to the Tyrannosauridae
Tyrannosauridae (or tyrannosaurids, meaning "tyrant lizards") is a family of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that comprises two subfamilies containing up to thirteen genera, including the eponymous ''Tyrannosaurus''. The exact number of genera ...
and Hypsilophodont
Hypsilophodontidae (or Hypsilophodontia) is a traditionally used family of ornithopod dinosaurs, generally considered invalid today. It historically included many small bodied bipedal neornithischian taxa from around the world, and spanning from ...
idae. Based solely on DGBU-78, a femur
The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with ...
, the name was coined by Kim in 1979, but by 1993 Kim decided that it was a species of ''Deinonychus
''Deinonychus'' ( ; ) is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur with one described species, ''Deinonychus antirrhopus''. This species, which could grow up to long, lived during the early Cretaceous Period, about 115–108 million ye ...
'', and created the informal name "D." "koreanensis".[Kim, (1993). Journal of Natural History and Environments 1(1). ''World Society of Natural History and Environments: Pusan University, Pusan, Korea''. ISSN 1225-6404.] Kim ''et al.'' (2005) referred the specimen to Eumaniraptora
Paraves are a widespread group of theropod dinosaurs that originated in the Middle Jurassic period. In addition to the extinct dromaeosaurids, troodontids, anchiornithids, and possibly the scansoriopterygids, the group also contains the aviala ...
based on a proximolateral ridge, shelf-like posterior trochanter, and absence of an accessory trochanter and mediodistal crest. The presence of a large fourth trochanter was noted to be similar to ''Adasaurus'' and ''Velociraptor''.
Kunmingosaurus
"Kunmingosaurus" is an informally named primitive sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
which lived during the Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...
. Its fossils were found in Yunnan Province, China in 1954. The type species, type and only species is "Kunmingosaurus wudingensis", invalidly coined by Zhao in 1985. It is known from fossils found in the Fengjiahe Formation (or the Lower Lufeng Series
The Lufeng Formation (formerly Lower Lufeng Series) is a Lower Jurassic sedimentary rock formation found in Yunnan, China. It has two units: the lower Dull Purplish Beds/Shawan Member are of Hettangian age, and Dark Red Beds/Zhangjia'ao Member ar ...
), including pelvis, pelvic, hind limb, and vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
l material.
L
Lancanjiangosaurus
"Lancanjiangosaurus" (alternative spelling "Lanchanjiangosaurus"; meaning "Lancangjiang lizard", named after the Lancangjiang River of China) is the informal name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic
The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations co ...
. The "type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
", "L. cachuensis", was coined by Zhou in 1985, but remains a ''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
''. It is known from the Dapuka Group of Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
.
Lijiagousaurus
"Lijiagousaurus" (meaning "Lijiagou lizard") is the nomen nudum, informal name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of herbivorous
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...
iguanodontian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
of what is now Sichuan, China. It has not been formally described yet, but the formal publication is forthcoming, from Chinese people, Chinese paleontologist
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
Ouyang Hui. "Lijiagousaurus" was only briefly mentioned in the Chongqing Natural History Museum guidebook (2001) and is thus a ''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
''.[Anonymous (2001). ''Chongqing Natural History Museum guidebook.'']
Likhoelesaurus
"Likhoelesaurus" (meaning "Li Khole lizard") is the name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of archosauriform, either a dinosaur or rauisuchian, from the Late Triassic
The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch ...
of what is now South Africa. The name was coined by Ellenberger in 1970, and the "type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
" is "Likhoelesaurus ingens". It is named after the town in Lesotho where the fossils were found. The only fossils recovered have been teeth, from the Carnian, late Carnian–Norian, early Norian-age Lower Elliot Formation. Ellenberger (1972) regarded the genus as a giant carnosaur, and Kitching and Raath (1984) treated it as possibly referable to ''Basutodon''. Knoll listed "Likhoelesaurus" as a rauisuchian, also he noted that could also be a rauisuchian.
Lopasaurus
"Lopasaurus" (meaning "Alberto Lopa's lizard") is the name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of dromaeosauridae, dromaeosaurid theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
, possibly belonging to Unenlagiinae due to its similarity to ''Buitreraptor'', ''Neuquenraptor'' and ''Pamparaptor'', from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
(Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
)-aged Marília Formation in the Ponto 1 do Price site of Brazil. The intended holotype, a partial right metatarsus showing metatarsals II, III and IV, was discovered by Alberto Lopa during the 1950s but the fossil was lost shortly after the death of Llewellyn Ivor Price in 1980 and it has not been located since. "Lopasaurus" was briefly mentioned by Brum ''et al.'' in their description of ''Ypupiara, Ypupiara lopai'', where it was tentatively referred to Unenlagiinae. Brum ''et al.'' (2021) also did not refer "Lopasaurus" to ''Ypupiara'', which was found in the same formation as "Lopasaurus".
M
Magulodon
"Magulodon" is the name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pro ...
(Aptian
The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), a ...
to Albian
The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 M ...
faunal stage, stages, approximately 112 million years ago). It was a possible ornithischian
Ornithischia () is an extinct order of mainly herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by a pelvic structure superficially similar to that of birds. The name ''Ornithischia'', or "bird-hipped", reflects this similarity and is derived from the Greek s ...
, either an ornithopod
Ornithopoda () is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, called ornithopods (), that started out as small, bipedal running grazers and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful groups of herbivores in the Cretaceous world ...
or basal ceratopsian, which was discovered in the Arundel Formation
The Arundel Formation, also known as the Arundel Clay, is a clay-rich sedimentary rock formation, within the Potomac Group, found in Maryland of the United States of America. It is of Aptian age (Lower Cretaceous). This rock unit had been economi ...
of Maryland, United States. The type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
, "Magulodon muirkirkensis", was coined by Kranz in 1996.[Kranz, P. (1996). Notes on the sedimentary iron ores of Maryland and their dinosaurian faunas. Maryland Geological Survey Special Publications 3:87–115.] It is a tooth taxon, based solely on a single tooth. Since it has not been formally described, it is also a ''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
''. It was considered to be an indeterminate specimen in a paper which cited the intended type specimen but avoided using the name to prevent taxonomic clutter.[Chinnery, B.J., Lipka, T.R., Kirkland, J.I., Parrish, J.M., and Brett-Surman, M.K. (1998). Neoceratopsian teeth from the Lower Cretaceous of North America. In: Kirkland, J.I., and Estep, J.W. (eds.). ''Lower Cretaceous Terrestrial Ecosystems''. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 14:297–302.]
Mangahouanga
"Mangahouanga" (named after Te Hoe River, the stream of the same name), or the "Joan Wiffen's theropod" is an informal name given to the theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
discovered in the Tahora Formation, New Zealand by Joan Wiffen, who considered it to be a possible Megalosauridae, megalosaurid in 1975. The vertebra was described by Molnar 1981, and it was ruled as an indeterminate theropod in 2010 by Agnolin ''et al''. The name "Mangahouanga" was coined by Molina-Pérez & Larramendi (2016) and no species name was given. They estimated it to reach up to long and weigh up to and is represented by of a single vertebra.
Maojandino
“Maojandino” is an informally named taxon of titanosaurid sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
stage of Pakistan. The intended type species is "Maojandino alami."
Marisaurus
"Marisaurus" (meaning "Mari lizard", for the Mari tribe of Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
) is an informal taxon of titanosaur
Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still th ...
ian sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
of Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
, western Pakistan. The type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
is "M. jeffi", described by M. Sadiq Malkani in 2006, and it is based on tail vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
e, found in the Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
-age Vitakri Member of the Pab Formation
The Pab Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic Formation (geology), formation in Balochistan, in western Pakistan. It is dominated by Sandstone, with minor mudstone and shale components. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been reco ...
. Much additional material, including a partial skull, many vertebrae, and a few hindlimb bones, was referred to this genus. "Marisaurus" was assigned to "Balochisauridae" with " Sulaimanisaurus", although the family was used as a synonym of Saltasauridae
Saltasauridae (named after the Salta region of Argentina where they were first found) is a family of armored herbivorous sauropods from the Upper Cretaceous. They are known from fossils found in South America, Asia, North America, and Europe. Th ...
.[
]
Megacervixosaurus
"Megacervixosaurus" (meaning "big neck lizard") is the informal name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of herbivorous
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...
dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
. It was a titanosaur sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
which lived in what is now China. The type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
, "Megacervixosaurus tibetensis", was coined by China, Chinese paleontologist
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
Zhao Xijin
Zhao Xijin (赵喜进; born c. 1935 died July 21, 2012) was a Chinese paleontologist notable for having named numerous dinosaurs. He was a professor at Beijing's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.
Biography
Zhao Xijin was ...
in 1985. "Megacervixosaurus" has never been formally described, and remains a ''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
''.[Zhao X. (1985). "Phylogeny and evolutionary stages of Dinosauria." ''Acta Palaeontologica Polonica'' 28(1–2); 295–306.]
Merosaurus
"Merosaurus" is the informal name given to an indeterminate genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of dinosaur from the Early Jurassic (Sinemurian
In the geologic timescale, the Sinemurian is an age and stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic Epoch or Series. It spans the time between 199.3 ± 2 Ma and 190.8 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Sinemurian is preceded by the Hettangian and is ...
faunal stage, stage, around 190 million years ago) of Charmouth, Dorset, discovered in or before 1847. It originates either from the Blue Lias Formation or the Charmouth Mudstone Formation. It was a theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
, possibly a tetanurae, tetanuran which lived in what is now England. The informal name, "Merosaurus newmani", was coined by Samuel Welles, H.P. Powell, and Stephan Pickering in 1995 in an unpublished manuscript, and is based solely on a claw and some leg bones (a knee joint) once thought to belong to ''Scelidosaurus''.[Mortimer, M (2004]
"The Theropod Database"
. University of Washington. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
Microcephale
"Microcephale" (meaning "tiny head") is the nomen nudum, informal name of a genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of very small pachycephalosaurid dinosaur, otherwise known as the "North American dwarf species", which lived during the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
. Its fossils were found in the Campanian, late Campanian-age Dinosaur Park Formation, in Alberta, Canada. Not much is known about this dinosaur, as it has not yet been fully described; it is therefore a ''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
''. The fossils of "Microcephale", including tiny skull caps, were first mentioned by paleontologist
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
Paul Sereno in 1997, in a list of pachycephalosaurids. These skull caps measure less than 5 cm (2 in) each. No potential species name was given.
Microdontosaurus
"Microdontosaurus" (meaning "tiny-toothed lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...
") is the name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
dinosaur from China. It was named from fossils from the Middle Jurassic
The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations co ...
-age Dapuka Group of Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
. The intended type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
is "M. dayensis." As with other informal names created by Zhao in 1985 or 1983, it has not been used since then, and may have been redescribed under another name.
Mifunesaurus
"Mifunesaurus" (meaning 'Mifune lizard') is a nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
given to an extinction, extinct non-avian dinosaur, non-avian non-maniraptoriform tetanuran theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
(Cenomanian
The Cenomanian is, in the ICS' geological timescale, the oldest or earliest age of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or the lowest stage of the Upper Cretaceous Series. An age is a unit of geochronology; it is a unit of time; the stage is a unit in the s ...
; ~96 Ma) Kabu Formation of Japan. The intended holotype, stored at the Mifune Dinosaur Museum, with the tooth on display, of "Mifunesaurus" consists only of a few bones, among which are a tibia, a phalanx
The phalanx ( grc, φάλαγξ; plural phalanxes or phalanges, , ) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar pole weapons. The term is particularly use ...
, a metatarsus and a single tooth (tooth catalogued as YNUGI 10003; rest of the skeleton catalogued as MDM 341), discovered by N. & K. Wasada in 1979. The genus was informally coined by Hisa in 1985 and no epithet was given. The known tooth was too thick to be the tooth of a ceratosauridae, ceratosaurid, and too tall to belong to an abelisauridae, abelisaurid, which means that "Mifunesaurus" was probably a megalosauroid
Megalosauroidea (meaning 'great/big lizard forms') is a superfamily (or clade) of tetanuran theropod dinosaurs that lived from the Middle Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous period. The group is defined as ''Megalosaurus bucklandii'' and all taxa sha ...
or a carnosauria, carnosaur based on the shape of the known tooth.
Mitchell ornithopod
The "Mitchell ornithopod" is the informal nickname of an ornithopod
Ornithopoda () is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, called ornithopods (), that started out as small, bipedal running grazers and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful groups of herbivores in the Cretaceous world ...
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
discovered near Mitchell, Oregon, being the first described dinosaur from Oregon but not the first discovered; a hadrosauridae, hadrosaurid sacrum was discovered in the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
(Campanian
The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian s ...
)-aged Cape Sebastian Sandstone near Cape Sebastian, Oregon, Cape Sebastian during the 1960s and excavated in 1994 by Dave Taylor, but the remains of the Cape Sebastian ornithopod were not prepared for peer review and described until 2019, merely weeks after the Mitchell ornithopod was described. The single known bone, F118B00, was a toe bone, specifically the third phalanx
The phalanx ( grc, φάλαγξ; plural phalanxes or phalanges, , ) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar pole weapons. The term is particularly use ...
of the central digit of the right hindlimb foot, and was discovered by Gregory Retallack in 2015 while on an annual field trip with his students, in a layer of the Albian
The Albian is both an age of the geologic timescale and a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early/Lower Cretaceous Epoch/Series. Its approximate time range is 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma to 100.5 ± 0.9 M ...
-aged Hudspeth Formation, Hudspeth Shale Formation; in 2021, Gloria Carr discovered another bone, this time a vertebra, that likely belonged to the same species of ornithopod
Ornithopoda () is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, called ornithopods (), that started out as small, bipedal running grazers and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful groups of herbivores in the Cretaceous world ...
. No excavation was required - the bone was found resting on the ground and Retalllack immediately knew it was different from the various marine fossils scattered nearby. The bone was described in 2018 by Gregory Retallack, Jessica Theodor, Edward Davis, Samantha Hopkins and Paul Barrett.[Retallack, Gregory J.; Jessica M. Theodor; Edward B. Davis; Samantha S. Hopkins, and Paul Z. Barrett. (2018). First Oregon dinosaur (Ornithopoda) from Early Cretaceous (Albian) of Oregon, U.S.A. ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.'' 1-5.] It was part of a bloated carcass swept out into the ocean, likely originating from Idaho, although further discoveries, such as Strommer (2021), dispute this claim and suggest it may have been deposited by a mudflow.
The bone was later compared to more complete remains of other ornithopods and the "Mitchell ornithopod" bone most closely matched those of hadrosaur
Hadrosaurids (), or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod family, which includ ...
s and iguanodontia, iguanodonts, although it was likely a basal ornithopod. Rettalack believes that the bone belonged to a new genus, although there is not enough sufficient remains to base this claim on.
Moshisaurus
Hisa (1985) used "Moshisaurus" (or "Moshi-ryu") for the incomplete sauropod humerus NSM PV17656, from the Early Cretaceous Miyako Group of Japan. Dong et al. (1990) and Hasegawa et al. (1991) referred them to ''Mamenchisaurus'', but Azuma & Tomida (1998) and Barrett et al. (2002) assigned them to Sauropoda indet.
N
Newtonsaurus
"Newtonsaurus" is an informally named genus erected for the theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
dinosaur species ''Zanclodon cambrensis.'' The species is based on the specimen BMNH R2912, an Fossil#Casts and molds, external mold of a dentary, which was discovered in the Late Triassic
The Late Triassic is the third and final epoch (geology), epoch of the Triassic geologic time scale, Period in the geologic time scale, spanning the time between annum, Ma and Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Middle Triassic Epoch ...
(Rhaetian) aged beds of the Lilstock Formation near Bridgend, Wales in 1898 and described by Edwin Tulley Newton in 1899.[Newton, E.T. (1899). On a megalosaurid jaw from Rhaetic beds near Bridgend (Glamorganshire). ''Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London'' 55:89–96.] The taxon was reassigned to ?''Megalosaurus'' by Molnar in 1990, which was followed by Peter Galton in publications in 1998 and 2005. The species is considered to be a ''nomen dubium
In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application.
Zoology
In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...
'', as it has no diagnostic features, and is considered to be a Coelophysoidea, coelophysoid grade theropod outside Averostra based on the low interdental plates and possession of only a single Meckelian groove, meckelian foramen. It has alternatively been suggested to possibly represent another indeterminate predatory archosaur.
The name "Newtonsaurus" was coined in 1999 by Stephan Pickering, in reference the describer. Paleontologists have avoided using the name "Newtonsaurus" since its appearance in 1999 in private publications, although "''Zanclodon''" ''cambrensis'' or ''Megalosaurus cambrensis'' have both been used for this taxon.
Ngexisaurus
"Ngexisaurus" is the informal name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
dinosaur, likely belonging to Avetheropoda, from the Middle Jurassic
The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations co ...
Dapuka Group of Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
, China. The type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
, "Ngexisaurus dapukaensis", was coined by Zhao in 1983.[Zhao, X. (1985). [The Jurassic Reptilia]. [The Jurassic System of China. ''Stratigraphy of China'', No. 11] 286–290.] A synonym of "Ngexisaurus" coined by Zhao (1985) is "''Megalosaurus''" dapukaensis and Fossilworks lists "''M.''" dapukaensis as a Megalosauridae, megalosaurid tetanurae, tetanuran separate from "Ngexisaurus" proper.
Nicksaurus
"Nicksaurus" is an informally named Titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous red muds of the Vitakri Formation of Sulaiman Basin, Pakistan. The dinosaur shared a habitat with other sauropod dinosaurs including #Khetranisaurus, Khetranisaurus, Sulaimanisaurus, Pakisaurus, #Gspsaurus, Gspsaurus, #Saraikimasoom, Saraikimasoom, and #Maojandino, Maojandino.
Nurosaurus
"Nurosaurus" (Nur-o-saw-rus, meaning "Nur lizard") is the informal
Formal, formality, informal or informality imply the complying with, or not complying with, some set of requirements (forms, in Ancient Greek). They may refer to:
Dress code and events
* Formal wear, attire for formal events
* Semi-formal attire ...
name for a genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
dinosaur. It is known from a partial, large skeleton, that was presented as soon-to-be-described by Zhiming Dong in 1992 in paleontology, 1992, where he gave the proposed binomial "Nurosaurus qaganensis". It was discovered in the Qagannur Formation of Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
, southeast of Erenhot. The deposit is younger than the ''Psittacosaurus''-bearing Guyang Group, but is still Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pro ...
. It was found alongside the plates and scapula of a stegosaur.
The foot of "Nurosaurus" is notable for a stress fracture present on the first of the fourth digit of the left foot, which was the first identified fracture of its kind, and have since been identified on the phalanges and metatarsals of ''Apatosaurus'', ''Barosaurus'', ''Brachiosaurus
''Brachiosaurus'' () is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic, about 154to 150million years ago. It was first described by American paleontologist Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in th ...
'', ''Camarasaurus'', and ''Diplodocus''.
O
Oharasisaurus
"Oharasisaurus" is the name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of somphospondylian sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
, possibly belonging to the Euhelopodidae, from the Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pro ...
Kuwajima Formation (Facies III layer) of Japan. The name "Oharasisaurus" was coined by Larramendi & Molina Pérez (2020) and the holotype, a tooth, was first mentioned by Matsuoka (2000).
Orcomimus
"Orcomimus" (Pronounced or-coh-mEYEm-us) is the name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
period 66 million years ago. The dinosaur was an ornithomimid
Ornithomimidae (meaning "bird-mimics") is a family of theropod dinosaurs which bore a superficial resemblance to modern ostriches. Ornithomimids were fast, omnivorous or herbivorous dinosaurs known mainly from the Late Cretaceous Period of Laura ...
which lived in what is now South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...
, in the United States. The type (biology), type was coined by Michael Triebold in 1997, but has never been formally described and is currently a ''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
''. "Orcomimus" was a bipedal theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
, but the dinosaur is known from only a pelvis
The pelvis (plural pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of the trunk, between the abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also called bony pelvis, or pelvic skeleton).
The ...
and a hindlimb. "Orcomimus" is thought to be relatively advanced for other ornithomimids at the time, although this is hard to tell from the limited amount of specimens found of the dinosaur. It may be referable to one of the ornithomimosaur species currently known from the Hell Creek Formation
The Hell Creek Formation is an intensively studied division of mostly Upper Cretaceous and some lower Paleocene rocks in North America, named for exposures studied along Hell Creek, near Jordan, Montana. The formation stretches over portions of ...
, where the holotype of "Orcomimus" was found.
Oshanosaurus
"Oshanosaurus" (meaning "Eshan Yi Autonomous County, Oshan lizard") is the informal name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
dinosaur from the Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...
period of Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
, China. Its fossils were found in the Lower Lufeng Series
The Lufeng Formation (formerly Lower Lufeng Series) is a Lower Jurassic sedimentary rock formation found in Yunnan, China. It has two units: the lower Dull Purplish Beds/Shawan Member are of Hettangian age, and Dark Red Beds/Zhangjia'ao Member ar ...
. The intended "type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
", "Oshanosaurus youngi", was coined by Zhao in 1985. It has sometimes been associated with heterodontosauridae, heterodontosaurids, which appears to be due to the juxtaposition of a species of ''Dianchungosaurus'' (formerly thought to be a heterodontosaurid) in the text of Zhao (1985).
In 1971 Zhao Xijin
Zhao Xijin (赵喜进; born c. 1935 died July 21, 2012) was a Chinese paleontologist notable for having named numerous dinosaurs. He was a professor at Beijing's Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.
Biography
Zhao Xijin was ...
discovered a dinosaur fossil at Dianchung in Eshan Yi Autonomous County, Eshan county, giving it the informal name "Oshanosaurus youngi". In their 2019 popular book ''Dinosaur Facts and Figures: The Theropods'', Molina-Perez and Larramendi suggested that it belonged to the theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
''Eshanosaurus'', but without elaboration.
Osteoporosia
"Osteoporosia" is an informally named theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
, either belonging to Carcharodontosauridae or Megaraptora, from the Kem Kem Formation of Morocco, however, it lacks the requirements to become a valid taxon, thus leaving it as a naked name. The intended type species is "O. gigantea", first described by Singer (2015) and the holotype is JP Cr340, a tooth, with an indeterminate posterior or dorsal neural arch also known.
Otogosaurus
"Otogosaurus" is an informally named sauropod from Inner Mongolia, China. The supposed type species is "Otogosaurus sarulai". It is known from partial postcranial remains, including a tibia long and several footprints. It is named after Otog Banner in Inner Mongolia where it was discovered, and Sarula, the girl who discovered the fossils. Despite sometimes being presented as a valid taxon, sometimes accompanied by citations to Zhao (2004) or Zhao & Tan (2004), scholars have not been able to locate such a source, so it remains informal until a paper is discovered.
P
Pakisaurus
"Pakisaurus" (meaning "Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
lizard") is an informal taxon of titanosaur
Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still th ...
ian sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
of Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
, western Pakistan. The proposed species is "P. balochistani", and it was validly named by M. Sadiq Malkani in 2006, based on four tail vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
e, found in the Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
-age Vitakri Member of the Pab Formation
The Pab Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic Formation (geology), formation in Balochistan, in western Pakistan. It is dominated by Sandstone, with minor mudstone and shale components. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been reco ...
. Three additional tail vertebrae have been assigned to it. The author erected the family "Pakisauridae", using it synonymously with older Titanosauridae
Lithostrotia is a clade of derived titanosaur sauropods that lived during the Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous. The group was defined by Upchurch ''et al.'' in 2004 as the most recent common ancestor of ''Malawisaurus'' and ''Saltasaurus'' an ...
. "Pakisaurus" was decided to be closely related to " Sulaimanisaurus" and "#Khetranisaurus, Khetranisaurus", both from Pakistan as well.[
]
Podischion
"Podischion" is an informal genus of hadrosaurid
Hadrosaurids (), or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod family, which inclu ...
dinosaur known from a skeleton discovered in 1911 on the Red Deer River in Alberta by a crew led by Barnum Brown. The remains were tentatively named "Podischion", which was not mentioned in published literature until Dingus & Norell (2010). It is possible that the skeleton represents an individual of ''Hypacrosaurus''.
R
Ronaldoraptor
"Ronaldoraptor", also known as the “Mitrata” Oviraptorid, is an undescribed oviraptoridae, oviraptorid from Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
[Gee, H. & Rey, L. V. 2003. A Field Guide to Dinosaurs: The Essential Handbook for Travelers in the Mesozoic. Barron's Educational Series, Inc.] and has been listed as "''Oviraptor sp.''" The name was first used by Luis Rey in 2003, in his book ''A Field Guide to Dinosaurs: The Essential Handbook for Travelers in the Mesozoic'', where he drew an illustration, captioning it "Ronaldoraptor". "Ronaldoraptor" may have been closely related to ''Citipati osmolskae''.
Rutellum
"Rutellum" is the pre-Linnaean taxonomy, Linnaean name given to a dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
specimen from the Late Jurassic
The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987.
In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...
(Oxfordian (stage), Oxfordian)-aged Coralline Oolite Formation. It was a sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
, possibly a Cetiosauridae, cetiosaurid,[Delair, J.B., and Sarjeant, W.A.S. (2002)]
The earliest discoveries of dinosaurs: the records re-examined
''Proceedings of the Geologists' Association'' 113:185–197. which lived in what is now England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. The specimen (University of Oxford, OU 1352), called "Rutellum impicatum", was described in 1699 by Edward Lhuyd alongside specimen OU 1358, what is now believed to be a ''Megalosaurus'' tooth crown,[Lhuyd, E. (1699). ]
Lithophylacii Britannici Ichnographia, sive lapidium aliorumque fossilium Britannicorum singulari figura insignium
'. Gleditsch and Weidmann:London. and is notable as the earliest named entity that is recognizable as a dinosaur.[ It was based on a tooth collected from Caswell, near Witney, ]Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
.[Gunther, R.T. (1945). ''Early Science in Oxford: Life and Letters of Edward Lhuyd'', volume 14. Author:Oxford.]
Because "Rutellum impicatum" was named before 1758 (the official starting date for zoological nomenclature according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, ICZN), it is not considered a part of modern biological nomenclature.
S
Sabinosaurus
"Sabinosaurus" or "Sabinosaurio" is a name used for PASAC-1, a partial skeleton of a hadrosaur
Hadrosaurids (), or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod family, which includ ...
that was discovered in the Sabinas Basin in Mexico in 2001. It was initially described as ''Kritosaurus'' sp. by Jim Kirkland and colleagues (2006), but considered an indeterminate saurolophine by Prieto-Márquez (2014). This skeleton is about 20% larger than other known specimens, around long, and with a distinctively curved , and represents the largest known well-documented North American saurolophine. Unfortunately, the nasal bones are also incomplete in the skull remains from this material.[
]
Saldamosaurus
"Saldamosaurus" is an informal genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of stegosauridae, stegosaurid dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
known from a complete braincase discovered in the Early Cretaceous Saldam Formation of Siberia, Russia. The type species, "Saldamosaurus tuvensis", was named in 2014 but according to Galton and Carpenter (2016) it did not meet the requirements of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and is hence a ''nomen nudum''.
Saltillomimus
"Saltillomimus" is an informal name for an ornithomimid
Ornithomimidae (meaning "bird-mimics") is a family of theropod dinosaurs which bore a superficial resemblance to modern ostriches. Ornithomimids were fast, omnivorous or herbivorous dinosaurs known mainly from the Late Cretaceous Period of Laura ...
theropod from the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian
The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian s ...
) of the Cerro del Pueblo Formation in Mexico. It is known from SEPCP 16/237, a partial tail, most of a hindlimb, and forelimb bones, discovered in 1998, and the possible juvenile specimen SEPCP 16/221, a partial leg and hip bone, that was given the name "Saltillomimus rapidus" by Martha Carolina Aguillón Martinez in 2010 in paleontology, 2010. A skeletal reconstruction was put on display in 2014 at the Museo del Desierto, which served to highlight its robust thighs and weird hips that combine primitive and advanced features seen in ornithomimosaurs from both Asia and North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
. Named in Martinez' 2010 thesis, the taxon name is an invalid ''nomen ex dissertatione''.[
]
Sanchusaurus
"Sanchusaurus" (meaning "Lizard from Sanchu") is an nomen nudum, informal name for an ornithomimosaur dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pro ...
Period (geology), period of Asia. It is only known by a partial Caudal vertebrae, tail vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
, found in Nakasato, Japan. Dong (1990) [ considered it synonymous with '']Gallimimus
''Gallimimus'' ( ) is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Mongolia during the Late Cretaceous period, about seventy million years ago (mya). Several fossils in various stages of growth were discovered by Polish-Mongolian exped ...
'' but the large discrepancy in both age and location between the two species renders this opinion untenable. The genus has not been formally described and is considered a ''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
''. It was first mentioned by Hisa in 1985.
Saraikimasoom
"Saraikimasoom" (meaning 'Innocent one') is an invalid species of titanosaur
Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still th ...
dinosaur from the Vitakri Formation in Pakistan. The type species, ''Saraikimasoom vitakri'', was described by Sadiq Malkhani in 2015, in a paper describing multiple Pakistani dinosaurs, such as ''Gspsaurus'', "Nicksaurus" and "Maojandino
This list of informally named dinosaurs is a listing of dinosaurs (excluding Aves; birds and their extinct relatives) that have never been given formally published scientific names. This list only includes names that were not properly published ...
". ''Saraikimasoom'' is currently recognised as a ''nomen manuscriptum''.
Shake-N-Bake theropod
The "Shake-N-Bake theropod" is an undescribed species of coelophysoid from the Kayenta Formation, known from partial skeleton MCZ 8817 within the collection of Harvard Museum of Natural History.
Siamodracon
"Siamodracon" is an extinct genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of nomen nudum, invalid stegosauridae, stegosaurid dinosaur known from a single dorsal vertebra found in Thailand's Phu Kradung Formation. According to Galton and Carpenter (2016) it did not meet the requirements of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.[Ulansky, R. E., 2014. Evolution of the stegosaurs (Dinosauria; Ornithischia). Dinologia, 35 pp. [in Russian]]
PDF
[ "Siamodracon" was the first thyreophoran ]dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
discovered in South East Asia.
Sidormimus
"Sidormimus" is an informal genus of noasauridae, noasaurid discovered in the Elrhaz Formation in Niger. It was discovered in 2000 by Chris Sidor and it was immediately described by Lyon on the Project Exploration website, with a photograph of the holotype. During the same year, on the National Geographic website, the same photograph of the holotype was labelled "Dongosaurus". In 2005, Sidor himself confirmed that "Sidormimus" was the Elrhaz noasaurid. "Sidormimus" has been mentioned by Paul Sereno three times. "Sidormimus" is known from a partial post cranial skeleton. Its neck and ribs were exposed when the holotype was discovered.
Sinopeltosaurus
"Sinopeltosaurus" is a nomen dubium, dubious genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
thyreophoran ornithischian
Ornithischia () is an extinct order of mainly herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by a pelvic structure superficially similar to that of birds. The name ''Ornithischia'', or "bird-hipped", reflects this similarity and is derived from the Greek s ...
dinosaur described by Roman Ulansky. The type species, type and only species is "S. minimus" of the lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation of Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, based on an articulated set of ankle bones.[Ulansky, R. E., 2014. Evolution of the stegosaurs (Dinosauria; Ornithischia). Dinologia, 35 pp. ]n Russian
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
[DOWNLOAD PDF] http://dinoweb.narod.ru/Ulansky_2014_Stegosaurs_evolution.pdf.[Ulansky, R. E., 2014. Evolution of the stegosaurs (Dinosauria; Ornithischia). Dinologia, 35 pp. ]n Russian
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
[DOWNLOAD PDF] http://dinoweb.narod.ru/Ulansky_2014_Dinoclass_Stegosauria.pdf The specimen is FMNH CUP 2338, and includes the distal tibia and fibula, distal tarsals, most metatarsals, and some phalanges. FMNH CUP 2338 was described in 2008 by Randall Irmis and Fabian Knoll, as one of the few definitive specimens of Ornithischia from the Early Jurassic based on features of the ankle and pes. In 2016, Peter Malcolm Galton
Peter Malcolm Galton (born 14 March 1942 in London) is a British vertebrate paleontologist who has to date written or co-written about 190 papers in scientific journals or chapters in paleontology textbooks, especially on ornithischian and prosa ...
and Kenneth Carpenter
Kenneth Carpenter (born September 21, 1949, in Tokyo, Japan) is a paleontologist. He is the former director of the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum and author or co-author of books on dinosaurs and Mesozoic life. His main research interests ar ...
identified it as a ''nomen dubium'', and listed it as Ornithischia indet., possible Thyreophora indet. Ulansky variously referred to it as "Sinopeltosaurus minimus" or "Sinopelta minima"; Galton and Carpenter, as the first revisers under International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, ICZN, made the former official.
Skaladromeus
"Skaladromeus" or the "Kaiparowits ornithopod" is an ornithopod
Ornithopoda () is a clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, called ornithopods (), that started out as small, bipedal running grazers and grew in size and numbers until they became one of the most successful groups of herbivores in the Cretaceous world ...
from the Kaiparowits Formation named in a 2012 thesis by Clint Boyd. The intended type species is "Skaladromeus goldenii".
Spearpoint ankylosaur
The Spearpoint ankylosaur is an undescribed ankylosaur specimen from the Wessex Formation on the Isle of Wight. It was found at Chilton Chine in 1994. Parts of the skeleton are housed at the Dinosaur Isle museum, accessioned under IWCMS 1996.153, while other parts of the skeleton are in private collection. A phylogenetic analysis conducted in a thesis by Thomas J. Raven found that it was not closely related to ''Polacanthus,'' the only named ankylosaur from the Wessex Formation, and that it likely represents a new taxon.
Suciasaurus
A fossil theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
(possibly a Tyrannosauroidea, tyrannosaur) nicknamed "Suciasaurus rex” was discovered in 2012 at Sucia Island State Park in San Juan County, Washington, San Juan County of the U.S. Washington (state), State of Washington. It was the first dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
discovered in Washington (state), Washington state.[
][
] The finding was announced when Burke Museum paleontologist
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
s published a discovery paper in ''PLoS ONE''.[
] Prompted by a petition from students at an elementary school at Parkland, Washington, Parkland, near Tacoma, the Washington State Legislature introduced a bill in 2019 to make it the official state dinosaur.[
] A renewed push came in 2021, though House Republicans, like Minority leader J. T. Wilcox, called it low priority versus the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and eventually the bill failed to pass.
Sugiyamasaurus
"Sugiyamasaurus" (meaning "Sugiyama lizard") is the informal name given to a few spatulate teeth belonging to a titanosauriform, possibly ''Fukuititan'', which lived in Japan during the Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pro ...
. The name was first printed by David Lambert in 1990 in the ''Dinosaur Data Book'', and also appears in Lambert's ''Ultimate Dinosaur Book'' and in many on-line lists of dinosaurs. Since it has not been formally described, "Sugiyamasaurus" is a ''nomen nudum
In taxonomy, a ''nomen nudum'' ('naked name'; plural ''nomina nuda'') is a designation which looks exactly like a scientific name of an organism, and may have originally been intended to be one, but it has not been published with an adequate descr ...
''. Remains were found near Katsuyama, Fukui, Katsuyama City and were initially referred to Camarasauridae, but might belong to ''Fukutitan'' because they were unearthed in the same quarry as the ''Fukuititan'' material.
Sulaimanisaurus
"Sulaimanisaurus" (meaning "Sulaiman lizard", for the Sulaiman foldbelt) is an informal taxon of titanosaur
Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still th ...
ian sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
of Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
, western Pakistan (also spelled "Sulaimansaurus" in some early reports).[ The proposed species is "S. gingerichi", described by M. Sadiq Malkani in 2006, and it is based on seven tail ]vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
, found in the Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
-age Vitakri Member of the Pab Formation
The Pab Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic Formation (geology), formation in Balochistan, in western Pakistan. It is dominated by Sandstone, with minor mudstone and shale components. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been reco ...
. Four additional tail vertebrae have been assigned to it. It was considered to be related to " Pakisaurus" and "#Khetranisaurus, Khetranisaurus" in the family "Pakisauridae" (used as a synonym of Titanosauridae
Lithostrotia is a clade of derived titanosaur sauropods that lived during the Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous. The group was defined by Upchurch ''et al.'' in 2004 as the most recent common ancestor of ''Malawisaurus'' and ''Saltasaurus'' an ...
).[
]
T
Teihivenator
"Teihivenator" ("strong hunter") is an improperly named taxon of Tyrannosauroidea, tyrannosauroid Coelurosauria, coelurosaur from the Navesink Formation of New Jersey. It was suggested to contain the species, "T." ''macropus'', originally classified as a species of ''Dryptosaurus
''Dryptosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of tyrannosauroid that lived approximately 67 million years ago (mya) during the latter part of the Cretaceous period, New Jersey. ''Dryptosaurus'' was a large, bipedal, ground-dwelling carnivore, that grow up to ...
'' (= "Laelaps", a name preoccupied by Laelaps (mite), a mite). It was suggested as a separate genus in 2017 by Chan-gyu Yun. The name "Teihivenator" is invalid because the publication naming it is online-only, which means that a registration with ZooBank is required to be present in the article when published. However, the ZooBank registry was only added in after initial publication, meaning that it fails the requirement to be a validly published taxon.
In 2017, a preprint paper by Chase Brownstein concluded that the remains of ''L. macropus'' are a mixture of tyrannosauroid and ornithomimidae, ornithomimid elements with no distinguishing characteristics, rendering the species a chimera and a ''nomen dubium
In binomial nomenclature, a ''nomen dubium'' (Latin for "doubtful name", plural ''nomina dubia'') is a scientific name that is of unknown or doubtful application.
Zoology
In case of a ''nomen dubium'' it may be impossible to determine whether a s ...
''. In 2018, Brownstein stated that a tibia of ''L. macropus'' catalogued as specimen AMNH FARB 2550 represents a tyrannosauroid that probably was distinct from ''Dryptosaurus'', but not sufficiently to base a taxon on.
That Which Cannot Be Named
"That Which Cannot Be Named" is the name given by Darren Naish
Darren William Naish is a British vertebrate palaeontologist, author and science communicator.
As a researcher, he is best known for his work describing and reevaluating dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles, including ''Eotyrannus'', ''Xenopos ...
to an undescribed associated skeleton of a small coelurosaur from the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight. The specimen is in private ownership and is currently inaccessible to researchers. It has been suggested that the specimen is possibly a tyrannosauroid.
Tiantaisaurus
"Tiantaisaurus", alternatively spelled "Tiantaiosaurus", is the name given to a specimen of therizinosaur from the Aptian
The Aptian is an age in the geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is a subdivision of the Early or Lower Cretaceous Epoch or Series and encompasses the time from 121.4 ± 1.0 Ma to 113.0 ± 1.0 Ma (million years ago), a ...
age Laijia Formation of Zhejiang Province, China. According to correspondence through the Dinosaur Mailing List, the former name (from a 2012 study) was the one intended to be use for an official description. After being discovered in 2005, it was first mentioned named in an unpublished manuscript written in 2007. The given species was named "T. sifengensis". The specimen consists of an , an astragalus
''Astragalus'' is a large genus of over 3,000 species of herbs and small shrubs, belonging to the legume family Fabaceae and the subfamily Faboideae. It is the largest genus of plants in terms of described species. The genus is native to tempe ...
, a tibia, a femur
The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with ...
, an incomplete pubis (bone), pubis and ilium, and a large number of vertebrae
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic i ...
from across the body.
Tonouchisaurus
"Tonouchisaurus" (meaning "Tonouchi lizard") is the nomen nudum, informal name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of coelurosaurian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
Period (geology), Period of Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
. The suggested "type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
", "Tonouchisaurus mongoliensis", was first informally mentioned in a Japanese news article. It was notably small: less than in length. The specimen informally dubbed "Tonouchisaurus mongoliensis" is based on limb material, and the manual and pedal remains were initially reported to incorporate a complete didactyl Manus (zoology), manus and complete pes (zoology), pes, and Rinchen Barsbold therefore initially interpreted "Tonouchisaurus" as a tyrannosauroid, but he later noted that the manus is actually tridactyl and that the pes has a sub-arcometatarsalian condition.
U
Ubirajara
"Ubirajara jubatus, Ubirajara" (meaning "Lord of the Spear") is an informal genus of compsognathid theropod known from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil; it was discovered in 1995 and was named in 2020 in an "In Press" article that was later withdrawn due to the specimen having been apparently illegally smuggled from Brazil to Germany.
V
Vectensia
In 1982 Justin Delair informally named the genus "Vectensia" based on specimen GH 981.45, an armour plate. Like the holotype of ''Polacanthus'' it was found at Barnes High, but reportedly in an older layer, of the Wessex Formation, Lower Wessex Formation. Blows in 1987 tentatively referred it to ''Polacanthus''.[Blows W.T. (1987). The armoured dinosaur ''Polacanthus foxi'', from the Lower Cretaceous of the ]Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
, Palaeontology. 30, 557–580
Vitakridrinda
"Vitakridrinda" is a genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of abelisaurid theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
of Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
, western Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. The intended type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
is "V. sulaimani''"''. The discovery was made (along with other dinosaur specimens) near Vitariki by a team of palaeontologists from the Geological Survey of Pakistan, in rocks from the Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
-age Vitakri Member of the Pab Formation
The Pab Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic Formation (geology), formation in Balochistan, in western Pakistan. It is dominated by Sandstone, with minor mudstone and shale components. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been reco ...
. Formally described in 2006 by M.S. Malkani, the genus is based on partial remains including two femur, thigh bones, a braincase, and a tooth. A partial snout was later found that Malkani assigned to the holotype, and additional vertebra
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
e may also belong to this genus. However, the snout was later reclassified as a new genus of mesoeucrocodylian, ''Induszalim''. Thomas R. Holtz Jr., Thomas Holtz gave a possible length of 6 meters (19.7 feet). It is, however, a possible ''nomen nudum''.
Vitakrisaurus
"Vitakrisaurus" is a genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of noasaurid theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
s represented by only one known species, "Vitakrisaurus saraiki", which is the intended type species. It lived in the late Cretaceous period, approximately 70 million years ago, during the Maastrichtian
The Maastrichtian () is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age (uppermost stage) of the Late Cretaceous Epoch or Upper Cretaceous Series, the Cretaceous Period or System, and of the Mesozoic Era or Erathem. It spanned the interval from ...
, in what is today the Indian subcontinent. Its fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s were found in Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
's Vitakri Formation. The holotype specimen, MSM-303-2 is a right foot with a seemingly tridactyl form and robust phalanges. It may belong to Noasauridae due to similarities with the foot of ''Velocisaurus'', although inconsistencies within its brief description and a lack of comparison with other Theropoda, theropods within the article makes formal classification difficult.
The generic name references the Vitakri Member of the Pab Formation
The Pab Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic Formation (geology), formation in Balochistan, in western Pakistan. It is dominated by Sandstone, with minor mudstone and shale components. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been reco ...
and combines this with the Greek suffix "saurus", meaning "reptile". The specific name honours the Saraiki people, who primarily live in southern Pakistan. However, like most dinosaur taxa named by M. Sadiq Malkani, it is probably a ''nomen nudum''.
W
White Rock spinosaurid
"White Rock spinosaurid" is the nickname of a giant spinosaur from the Vectis Formation of the Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
described in 2022. Its remains are so fragmentary that the describers refrained from naming it, but considered the name "Vectispinus". With vertebrae comparable in dimensions to ''Spinosaurus'', it was likely among the largest theropods with a length exceeding .
X
Xinghesaurus
"Xinghesaurus" was the name given to a species of sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
dinosaur, possibly a titanosauriform, in 2009, in the guidebook for the dinosaur expo "Miracle of Deserts", written by Hasegawa ''et al.''. No species name was given for the genus. Based on the skeletal mount, "Xinghesaurus" was likely around long and weighed around .
Y
Yibinosaurus
"Yibinosaurus" (meaning "Yibin lizard") is the nomen nudum, informal name given to an as yet undescribed genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of herbivorous
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...
dinosaur from the Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...
. It was a sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their bo ...
which lived in what is now Sichuan, China. The suggested "type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
", "Yibinosaurus zhoui", is briefly mentioned in the Chongqing Natural History Museum guidebook (2001) as under description by Chinese paleontologist Ouyang Hui. It was coined as a ''nomen ex dissertationae'' by Ouyang (2003), and is based on a specimen referred to ''Gongxianosaurus'' sp. nov. by Luo and Wang (1999).
Yuanmouraptor
"Yuanmouraptor" or "Yuenmeuraptor" is an informally named carnosaur from Yuanmou County, China. It lived during the Middle Jurassic
The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations co ...
, around 174 and 163 million years ago, and it is known from ZLJ0115, which is a complete, articulated skull on display at an unknown Chinese museum (possibly the Lufeng Dinosaur Museum), alongside a reconstructed skeleton of "Yuanmouraptor". "Yuanmouraptor" was briefly mentioned in a 2014 guide book.
Yunxianosaurus
"Yunxianosaurus" is the provisional name for a genus of titanosaurian dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the ...
of what is now Hubei Province, China. The type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...
, "Yunxianosaurus hubeinensis", was proposed by Chinese people, Chinese paleontologist
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
Li Zhengqi in 2001. The fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s of "Yunxianosaurus" were found near the Nanyang, Henan, Nanyang Prefecture. Li stated that the name "Yunxianosaurus" was a temporary label for ease of description, but that further field work and study of the fossils would be required before the genus could be given an official name.[Li, Zhengqi. (2001). Distribution, burying and classification of dinosaur fossils in Upper Cretaceous strata at Meipu Town, Yunxian County of Hubei Province. ''Hubei Geology & Mineral Resources'', 15(4)(Total No 37): 25–31]
/ref>
Z
Zamyn Khondt oviraptorid
Zamyn Khondt oviraptorid is a nickname for oviraptorid specimen IGM or GIN 100/42. Since the type skull of ''Oviraptor'' is so poorly preserved and crushed, the skull of IGM 100/42 has become the quintessential depiction of that dinosaur, even appearing in scientific papers with the label ''Oviraptor philoceratops''.[Barsbold, R., Teresa Maryańska, Maryanska, T., and Osmolska, H. (1990). "Oviraptorosauria," in Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmolska, H. (eds.). ''The Dinosauria''. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 249–258.] However, this distinctive-looking, tall-crested species has more features of the skull in common with ''Citipati'' than it does with ''Oviraptor'' and it may represent a second species of ''Citipati osmolskae, Citipati'' or possibly an entirely new genus, pending further study.[Clark, J.M., Norell, M.A., & Barsbold, R. (2001). "Two new oviraptorids (Theropoda:Oviraptorosauria), upper Cretaceous Djadokhta Formation, Ukhaa Tolgod, Mongolia." ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'' 21(2):209–213., June 2001.]
See also
*List of dinosaur genera
References
External links
Theropod Database Blog post clarifying sauropod ''nomina nuda'' from Zhao (1985)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Informally named dinosaurs
Lists of prehistoric reptiles
Dinosaur-related lists
Lists of prehistoric animal genera (alphabetic)
Nomina nuda